By Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt
The Organised Labour in Rivers State has threatened to embark on indefinite strike over the inability of the Nyesom Wike’s administration to pay the agreed new national minimum wage.
It declared that no amount of intimidation or threat from Rivers government would deter it from ensuring that the rights of the public sector workers were put on the front burners.
In a statement after a joint meeting in Port Harcourt signed by Rivers Chairperson of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mrs. Beatrice Itubo , her counterpart of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Austin Jonah and the Chairman of the Joint Negotiating Council, Emechita Chukwu, the workers said they won’t back down until their demands were met.
It insisted that the proper implementation of the new national minimum wage to sectors in the public service, payment of gratuities to pensioners, workers’ promotion and incremental steps could not be swept under the carpet.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Rivers seals off NLC secretariat over minimum wage face-off
The workers urged Rivers to reconvene the new national minimum wage negotiation committee, to ensure harmonious relationship.
Public servants in Rivers state were also urged to remain committed to their work and be on alert, in case of any eventuality.
Rivers Government at 9 pm on Sunday sealed off the secretariat of NLC on Igboukwu Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt.
Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, declared that the state’s NLC should be ready to face “dire consequences,” if it made good its threat over the new national minimum wage. .
Wike’s Special Adviser, Special Projects, Mr. Dax George-Kelly, who is also the Head, Bureau for Special Projects, on Monday, claimed the secretariat was sealed off for structural integrity evaluation.
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