The Nigeria Labour Congress in Jigawa State has started talks with the state government on its demands, which include six months of wage arrears. This comes after the NLC suspended its nationwide strike.
Leadership reported that the state NLC chairman, Comrade Sanusi Alhassan Maigatari, told reporters that the state government was showing a positive attitude in the negotiation. He expressed hope that the outcome would improve the welfare of civil servants in the state.
He said: “The state delegation under the Head of Civil Service are exhibiting maturity and sense of concern in the discussion, while from our own side we are ready to give chance for meaningful progress.”
He added: “The agreement reached between federal government and our national body for suspending the intended nationwide strike is what give birth to our negotiation, and the demands we forwarded are in line with the agreement reached at the national level.”
According to Alhassan, the demands include payment of six-month wage arrears, provision of soft loan and palliatives to the workers in the state.
He also said: “We also requested on the state government to come up with public mass transit (a cheaper transportation programme) to help in reducing the huge burden on workers and general public which emanated from the fuel subsidy removal.”
Alhassan noted that workers were facing hard times due to the fuel subsidy removal, which led to a sharp increase in the prices of goods and services. He said that workers’ salaries remained unchanged despite the high cost of living.
