Edo LG workers begin indefinite strike

Local government workers, under the aegis of the National Union of
Local Government Employees, on Monday began an indefinite strike
to protest the non-payment of salaries owed their members in some
of the local government councils in Edo State.
The workers also protested what they described as the casualisation
of workers in the 18 local government councils of the state.
The State President of NULGE, Mr. Edward Ilenikhena, told our
correspondent on telephone that workers in 11 LG councils were
being owed salaries of one to four months of December last year,
while the number had increased to 15 in January.
Ilenikhena explained that some of the workers were yet to be fully
employed by the local government authorities, as they had remained
as casual workers against international labour standard.
He also vowed that the strike would persist until both the Ministry
of the Local Government and Chieftancy and the LG chairmen
responded to their demands, as they (workers) would not allow
themselves to be treated as “second class citizens.”
Ilenikhena said, “They (state government) should stop casualisation,
and should pay those outstanding salaries that they are owing all
our members; these are the two main issues.
“Owan East has 122 (and) Esan Central has 180. It’s indefinite
because it is a question of when somebody goes to work and, at the
end of the month, you don’t get salary. We are the only functional
establishment in the state that is being owed salary.”

source punchng