New Telegraph

Recession: Niger, Labour meeting on salary cut ends in deadlock

… Workers may go on strike next week

After several hours of meeting between the Niger State Government and the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the payment of November salaries to workers, there was no light at the end of the tunnels as it ended in deadlock.
New Telegraph also learnt that Labour may embark on strike next week if the government insists on not meeting their demands especially the payment of the 100 per cent November salaries.
It should be noted that the Niger State government had earlier this week disclosed that it will slash the salaries of workers in the state citing the recent recession as the reason.
The state government said they cannot pay full salaries but the NLC is insisting on a 100 per cent payment of salaries and nothing more.
However, none of the parties shifted ground insisting on maintaining the status quo.
A source in the meeting told our Correspondent that, Labour had asked the government why it is insisting that civil servants agree to deferment of their salaries while the government has not shown any indication through its activities that there is a recession in the state.
Findings, however, has it that Labour asked the government to cut down the salaries of political appointees and restructure their commitments of building roads and debt servicing to ensure that they pay the full salaries of the workers.
Labour in their arguments, claim that with the federal allocation of N4.2 billion received, paying workers salaries of N2.6 billion should not be difficult for the government to pay as the balance would be used to settle other sectors.
Confirming the situation, the Niger State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Yakubu Garba said the meeting had no headway as each party maintained their stand.

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