Labour unions under the aegis of the Osun State Joint Public Service Negotiating Councils I, II and III have directed their members to disregard the government’s directive asking them to submit their Bank Verification Number (BVN) to the Ministry of Finance.
The labour leadership said there are issues to be resolved with the government before the workers could obey the directive.
The unions, comprising the state Joint Negotiating Council and the Nigeria Labour Congress, in a February 22 letter to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, said the circular through which the directive was conveyed was at variance with the “position of the labour unions that issues bordering on workers welfare, especially salary related matters should be discussed with leadership of labour”.
The letter signed by the state chairmen of JNC and NLC, Bayo Adejumo and J.B. Adekomi, said the labour leadership was in the dark on the purpose of the circular.
It reads: “Another round of cleaning of payrolls of the state and local government at a time like this is inauspicious, more so, when the report of previous cleaning exercise has not been released.
“Our members are being subjected to avoidable stressful conditions in their various banks, especially on the issue of BVN printout, which is regarded as exclusive preserve of the owner.”
But the government in a statement by the governor’s media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, said there was nothing to fear about the exercise, maintaining that it was meant to sanitise the state’s payroll system.