Civil
servants in Osun State trooped out on Tuesday to protest against the alleged
non-payment of five months salaries by the state government.
The
workers, who were led by the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress in the state,
Mr. Olatunji Akinyemi, marched through the Osogbo/Gbongan Road, chanting
anti-government songs.
The
workers said apart from the failure of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led
administration to pay them the outstanding salaries, the same government had
refused to remit pension contributions, deducted from their previous salaries,
to various retirement savings accounts.
They
claimed that the governor was busy spending the state’s resources on campaigns
of the All Progressives Congress and left workers to suffer untold hardship.
The
TUC chairman, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent, said workers
who were due for promotion since 2013, had been denied their rights, adding
that the government had not shown that the workers meant anything to his
administration.
He
said, “We are out on the streets today to protest the non-payment of our
salaries. The government is owing us five months.
“Apart
from the salaries, the loan repayment deductions, pension deductions and union
dues deducted from our salaries were stopped were not remitted to the
appropriate quarters.
“The
workers say no to non payment of our salaries, we say no to illegal withholding
of fund deducted from our salaries. The government has refused to pay its part
of workers’ pension, the ones deducted from our salaries were not remitted.”
He
said that no worker could go on retirement now with this situation because they
would suffer if they tried it.
One of
the workers, who identified herself as Kemi, told our correspondent that she
and many of her colleagues trekked an average of six kilometers everyday to and
from their places of work.
Despite
going through this suffering, she added that they had not been paid a dime
since October 2014.
The
media aide to the governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, promised to send the position
of his principal on the protest, which he had yet to do as of the time of
filing this report.
Governor Aregbesola shocked as Osun workers protest 5 months unpaid salaries
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
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