At least 14 labour unions are set to embark on five-day warning strike beginning mid-night on Sunday in Kaduna state, following the directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
The warning strike, according to the NLC, is a last resort to pressure the state government to rescind its decision on the recent mass sack of workers.
The government had argued that it was not sustainable to continue to spend over 90 percent of its federal allocations on salaries and personnel costs.
The strike is expected to lead to a total shutdown of economic activities, including aviation, rail, power, banking and petroleum sectors in the state.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba and other members of the union aas well as general secretaries of affiliates, are expected to arrive in Kaduna on Sunday to ensure full compliance with the labour directives.
The union expected to join the strike are:
the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), National Union of Electricity Employees of Nigeria (NUEE), National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE), the Nigeria Union of Railway, and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Others include the National Association of Nurses and Midwives, Aviation workers Union, Construction Union, National Union of Local Government Employees, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that a meeting on Saturday between government officials and labour leaders to avert the strikes ended in stalemate.
The state Commissioner for Local Government and the state’s Head of Service, Jafaru Ibrahim Sani and Hajiya Bari’atu Mohammed respectively, said the state government would not be blackmailed by “the criminal plans to attack and shut down power transmission stations, hospitals, government offices and infrastructure, such as waterworks and streetlights.”
They said was aimed at reprising the “mayhem they visited on Kaduna during their rampage of November 8, 2017,” adding that there is a subsisting warrant for the arrest of Wabba for the vandalisation of government facilities in 2017 and that security agencies have been notified to take steps to thwart any violent intent of the organisers.”
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that all the affiliated unions have written to their members to join the strike effect from “00 hours of Sunday, May 16, 2021 until otherwise directed,”
