Tension continues to mount at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, as the disagreement that ensued between workers and labour leaders over an alleged bribe received from the state government, deepened. Already, stakeholders are worried that the development, if not properly handled by both parties, may result into a another round of labour unrest in the embattled state. A month long strike action embarked upon by the workers had just been called off by their union after signing an agreement with the state governor, Ayodele Fayose.
Findings by The Nation posit that a section of the workers’ union, which is accusing labour leaders of betraying them by calling off the strike after agreeing to the payment of a one-month salary out of the six months owed them by the state government, has vowed to continue its agitation against the leadership of labour unions in the state.
Our source, a state official of the National Union of Local Government Employee (NULGE), said the majority of the workers in the state are disappointed in the agreement signed by their leaders with the state government. He added that contrary to the usual practice since the face-off between Fayose and the workers started, the labour leaders did not consult the workers before signing the controversial agreement.
“The situation is worrisome and the last is yet to be heard. We have a way of doing things as unions. We have a practice of always reporting back to the workers and consulting them before any agreement is signed. This was not done in this case and that led to suspicion. The end result is this allegation that government bribed our leaders into signing that agreement.
Worse still, the agreement is not in any way in the interest of the workers. How can you agree that when one month is paid we will return to work. We earlier rejected the offer of two months from the same government. How then can we explain this agreement? Many of us, especially those of us in the local government sector, will continue to reject the leadership of these people who betrayed us,” he said.
Another source, said it is unacceptable to Ekiti workers that the leaders of the state councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) could not convince the government to pay at least three months to the workers before the strike was suspended.
“We sincerely see the development as a betrayal of the workers by their leaders. We saw no reason why the agreement was hurriedly signed and workers directed to immediately return to work. If you consider the fact that Fayose at the time was under pressure following the revelations about his Zenith bank account, one will further be shocked that our leaders couldn’t get a better deal for us,” he said.
Already, the workers have stated expressing their disappointment publicly while calling for explanation from the labour leaders. In a bulletin issued during the week by an interest group, the Enlightened Workers Forum (EWF), and signed by the Coordinator, Mike Bamidele, the angry workers alleged that the labour leaders received N10 million bribe from the government to end the strike.
Bamidele said it was a mark of failure for the leaders of the state councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) to suspend the strike after being promised only one month pay by the government. He described as “very irresponsible”, a directive to the workers by one of the Labour leaders to resume work and await the payment of one month salary seven days after suspending the strike.
“One wonders what gave Labour the impression that the Federal Government will again be willing to release another bailout fund to Governor Ayodele Fayose when the first one has not been accounted for. This is a mark of failure on the part of the organised Labour and we in the EWF are not surprised about the development, as we anticipated this failure from the onset.
“Against this background, therefore, it will be wrong and illegal for any Labour leader to attempt to coerce the workers back to work through the backdoor without achieving anything. Negotiating one month salary on their behalf after about five weeks strike is not only anti-worker, but also criminal,” the EWF leader said while calling on the people to reject the agreement in its entirety.
Another group under the aegis of the Ekiti Labour Coalition (ELC) said the future of Ekiti workers and pensioners have been mortgaged by the JNC and other labour leaders following the “disgraceful and shocking manner they rushed to sign an agreement with Governor Ayodele Fayose who made no pretense about his lack of interest in the plight of the striking workers.
ELC co-ordinator and state chairman of Human Rights Alliance (HuRA), Comrade Biola Fatukasi, said it is a matter of time before the agreement will collapse. He said Ekiti workers are unwilling to be cajoled or deceived for much longer.
“The agreement is a waste of time because it is built on fraud and deceit. Ekiti workers will reject it. It is a matter of time before the agreement will collapse. Ekiti workers are unwilling to be cajoled or deceived for much longer. It is unfortunate that after leading us out to embark on this fight for a more rewarding life as workers, our leaders allowed themselves to be influenced into signing such a wicked agreement.
Imagine the government rejoicing over an agreement that will see the workers collecting one month salary out of the six months they are being owed with no assurance that they will henceforth be paid regularly. It is even worse that our leaders signed such an agreement purportedly on behalf of Ekiti workers. I can tell you that we are prepared to get to the root of how that agreement came about being signed,” he said.
But the state NLC Chairman, Ade Adesanmi, asserted that the workers were wrong in their allegation of bribery, saying, “I didn’t sign the pact with government culminating in this resumption because I compromised. I signed because of the fear that this allocation may be spent without the payment of worker salaries.
The same workers we were fighting for were coming to work during the strike to assist government in spending monies that could have been kept and added to the current allocation to pay workers. This is highest level of wickedness and prosperity will judge all of us.”
