Workers in Ondo state are on a collision course with the state government over percentage payment of salaries.
The State Executive and Administrative Councils of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, in the state have said that workers “will no henceforth accept percentage salaries.
A communiqué issued by the TUC after a meeting in Akure, the state capital, said that “due to untold hardship they are going through amidst high prices of essential commodities they would not accept percentage salaries anymore.
The leadership of TUC has therefore charged the state governor Rotimi Akeredolu “to immediately retool the finances of the state government to enable his administration to settle salary arrears of workers from March, 2021 to date.
The labour Union empathised with workers on the current economic situation in the country especially the astronomical increase in the prices of food and other essential items.
While commending the state government for the State Health insurance scheme, the union leaders, however, asked the state government “not to commence its implementation until all issues surrounding it like amount deductible, coverage areas of the scheme and until when arrears of salaries are fully paid and government resumes 100 percent salaries payment.
The communique reads, “Having carefully examined the plethora of concerns of workers on percentage payment of salaries by the state government especially at this critical time, and with the ever-rising prices of food items, drugs and medication, and other basic amenities of life, which are no longer within the reach of ordinary Nigerians, the council, therefore, calls on the state government to re-engineer its finances to offset the four months arrears of workers salaries and halt any further percentage payment of workers’ salaries as workers will no longer accept any form of percentage payment of their monthly salaries henceforth.
It added that “The council embraces the Ondo State Health insurance scheme as laudable but calls on the state government not to commence its implementation until all issues surrounding it, e.g, amount deductible, coverage areas of the scheme etc and arrears of salaries are fully paid and government resumes 100 percent payment of monthly salaries.”
Source: Vanguard
