Zamfara State workers have told Governor AbdulAziz Yari that unless their salaries are paid immediately, they will start a total strike on Monday.
Under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), they declared that the strike was necessary, following the expiration of a three-week ultimatum given to the state government by the association.
Chairman of the state NLC, Mr Bashir Mafara, spoke on behalf of the workers on Sunday in Gusau, the state capital.
Parts of the workers grievances with the state government include the non implementation of workers annual increments, promotion and the non-payment of 1,400 newly recruited staff recruited more than over three years ago.
Other issues, according to the NLC, is the refusal of the government to implement minimum wage for local government staff and primary school teachers as well as non- payment of pensioners’ gratuities.
The NLC said it was worrisome that primary school teachers and local government workers in the state were still receiving between N7,500 and N8,000 as monthly salary.
The NLC chairman said that the union have been having consultations with the government officials, led by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi, on how to resolve the issues.
He said that the government had failed to meet up with any of the agreement reached between the workers and the state government.
“Therefore, we are starting the strike tomorrow, Monday as announced three weeks ago.
“We have already announced that all the representatives of the NLC affiliated unions should meet tomorrow at NLC Secretariat by 10 am to mark the commencement of the strike”, he said.
Mafara, therefore, urged all workers to stay away from their places of works from tomorrow until the problems were addressed by the government.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara, had earlier told journalists that the 21-day ultimatum was uncalled for.
Dosara maintained that Yari had since directed the labour leaders in the state to come up with an authentic list of workers under the state government payroll without which the state government would not implement their demands.
