Normal activities were on Monday shut down at the headquarter offices of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) by the commission’s employees.
The protesting employees said their anger against the management of the commission and the state government border of non-payment of statutory end of year bonus, unpaid accumulated entitlements and failure of the commission to promote employees that had been due for promotion.
Some of the protesting employees expressed their anger by stripping naked.
However while reacting to the development, Managing Director of the Commission, Williams Makinde, who acknowledged non-payment of the End of Year Bonus, said the grievances and protest were diversionary attempts at intimidate management from dealing with the over staffing at the commission.
The protesting employees barricaded the access in the commission’s premises on Monday, ensuring that all activities were effectively paralysed and that all offices were shut before dispersing.
“13th month salary is embedded in our conditions of service. If the same board paid it last year why should they now insinuate that it does not exist and it is some sort of favour they can refuse at will?
“Beyond the end of year bonus, staff are not being promoted, we don’t know where our pension is going. Retired staff have not been paid till today. They are running helter-skelter, some have died struggling. It’s a crisis situation and the strike will get tougher by the day till the issues are resolved”, one of the leaders of the protest told The Nation.