Ekiti workers shun meeting with Fayose, insist on strike

Public workers in Ekiti State on Tuesday
shunned the meeting called by the state
government to resolve the ongoing strike in the
state.

The workers on Thursday began an indefinite
strike to press home the demand for the
payment of five months’ salaries arrears of
workers among other issues.

The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday (yesterday),
followed a declaration by Governor Ayodele
Fayose to invoke the doctrine of “no-work, no-
pay” in the face of labour’s insistence to
continue with the strike.

It was to be attended by the chairmen and
secretaries of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the
Trade Union Congress, the Joint Negotiating
Council, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, the
Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees
and the Academic Staff Union of Secondary
Schools.

But the labour leaders failed to show up for the
meeting.

Instead, the secretaries of the NLC, TUC and JNC
wrote the state government and asked for a new
date, time and venue.

According to a copy of the letter sighted by our
correspondent, the unions said the meeting
should be rescheduled in the interest of peace.

A leader of the labour told our correspondent
that the unions took the decision because of the
protest staged by driver unions against the
strike earlier in the day.

“The leadership of organised labour has met this
morning and resolved that in the interest of
peace, security of life and property, the
proposed meeting should be rescheduled to
another day/date and venue,” the letter said.
Earlier on Tuesday, some artisans and
commercial drivers, under the aegis of the
Concerned Trade Unions in Ekiti State, had
staged anti-workers’ protests in Ado Ekiti,
accusing the leadership of labour of taking
N25m bribe to destabilise the Fayose-led
government.

The protesters, led by the Chairmen of Road
Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, Mr.
Samuel Agbede, and the National Union of Road
Transport Workers, Clement Adekola, alleged
that the ongoing strike was politically-motivated.

The protesters, who carried placards with
various inscriptions, gathered at the popular
Fajuyi Park and marched to the Ijigbo area of
the state capital to mobilise support for Fayose’s
government.