Salary: Talks between Niger gov’t, labour deadlocked

The meeting between Niger State government and the organised labour over the planned reduction of  civil servants’ salaries has ended in deadlock.

The state government had said that the reduction in the federal allocation coming to the state had made it impossible to pay 100 percent salary to its workforce.

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The organised labour kicked against the purported plan to pay 70 percent for November salary of civil servants across the board.

When contacted, the Niger State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Yakubu Garba, confirmed that the meeting did not have any headway as each party maintained their stand.

Comrade Garba said that the organised labour had given the government a three-point demand which should be met. He said failure to meet the demands would lead to industrial strike action in the state.

“Our position is that the 30 percent differed balance of June should be paid. We are not taking anything less than 100 percent in November and the 80 civil servants dismissed by the government must be reinstated into service. Failure to do these, the government should expect the resumption of our strike.

“We asked them why they are asking us to deffer our salaries because of recession when their activities did not show that there is a recession in Niger State. Why is it that it is only the salaries of workers that would be affected especially when the government is still giving political appointments?” he asked.

The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Inusa Tanimu, who also spoke, said no date had been fixed for another meeting.

The Secretary to the Niger State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, also confirmed that the meeting was inconclusive as the labour which insisted on 100 percent payment of salaries was not ready to listen to any other explanation given by the government.

Matane insisted that the government could pay 100 percent salaries of civil servants, saying that “whatever percentage that is deffered would be paid back to the civil servants when the economy improves.”

He urged the civil servants in the state to show more understanding to the plight of the government.