How labour made Okorocha recall sacked workers

Organised  labour on Wednesday stormed Owerri, the Imo State capital to rescue the workers of the state from what they called   ‘anti workers attitude’ of   the state governor,  Rochas Okorocha. The umbrella body of organized labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) made good its earlier threat to shut down and paralysed economic activities in Owerri […]

Organised  labour on Wednesday stormed Owerri, the Imo State capital to rescue the workers of the state from what they called   ‘anti workers attitude’ of   the state governor,  Rochas Okorocha.
The umbrella body of organized labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) made good its earlier threat to shut down and paralysed economic activities in Owerri over the sack of over 3,000 workers by Governor Okorocha last month.
Commercial activities were grounded by the aggrieved workers of the state, causing heavy traffic hold up.  Shops and offices were hurriedly shut by panicking residents.  Flight operations were  also disrupted as  Sam Mbakwe Airport Owerri  was shut down by NUATE, a union from  the airport sector.
NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba and his Trade Union Congress counterparts  Kaigama Bobboi led the protest on the streets of Owerri and vowed not to retreat until the governor put measures in place  to ensure speedy payment of salaries and  revert the  said announcement of  sacked workers.
The workers in their hundreds had furiously assembled at the Nigeria Medical Workers Association, NMA, secretariat in Owerri as early as 7.00a.m. carrying different placards to show their grievances.
Some of the placards read: “Failure to pay salary equals failure of government, Okorocha is hereby sacked for lack of productivity;   Rochas must respect Nigeria Labour Laws, Imo workers reject sack and closure by radio announcement, Rochas has failed in job security and security of life, Imo workers against salary cut and piled up of salary arrears; APC promised job creations and not job destruction, Rochas which one you dey?”
They were united in the fight to get their backlog salaries paid as well as get their sacked colleagues recalled to work.
Marching through the streets of Owerri, sweating and defying the sun, they chanted solidarity songs as well as cast aspersions on the state governor, whom they said had failed woefully in his duties as an elected governor.
They shared flyers containing their grouses and demands from the state governor to passers-by and occupied major streets in Owerri.
NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba said that they decided to storm Owerri in solidarity with the workers of Imo State who have been deprived the payment of their regular salaries for eight months.
He  also said that most pensioners have not been paid for eight months in the state, adding that the  bailout funds that Mr. President gave to states, including   Imo have not been justifiable utilized by Governor  Okorocha.
He said that Governor  Okorocha  had  compounded the suffering of the state workers through a radio pronouncement sacking over 6,000  of them in 19 government parastatals.
He said, “Over 6,000 of them had been sacked through a radio announcement, to us, this is an insult and abuse of the labour laws and process of industrial relationship.   He has been victimizing workers; he has been using militia to force workers out of their places of work so these necessitated us to be here today and occupy Imo. We will be here until the issues are resolved because for us injury to one is injury to all. And he has shown that he doesn’t respect workers, he doesn’t respect laws and he does this with impunity.”
He  noted  that the overwhelming turn out of Imo workers for the  “occupy Imo” protest  shows  that the  workers are really in  a very bad situation, especially looking at the fact that most of the workers here have been deprived of their only means of livelihood and by extension their  dependents  for  months.
 He said, “Whereas Mr. President is trying to create jobs and even gave them life line in form of bailout, this is one state I think is direct opposite of what Mr. president stands for and we have called on Mr. President severally to call him to order, he is not a good image of the APC, whereby the government is trying to create 500,000 jobs, here is someone that is trying to ease workers out of their legitimate jobs.”
Wabba   accused the governor of reneging on the promise he made during a meeting he had with the leadership of the labour union two weeks ago not to go ahead with his sacking of over 6,000 workers in the state.
 “Two weeks ago we had a meeting with him where he said he was not ready to sack any worker and that the information that had been put in public domain is false. But we know who he is; we know the way he had behaved all through his life and we then delved on the first surface of the agreement and few days after we left,  he still went ahead to do what he did and that is why we are here.  And this time around, we are expecting that there will be written agreement which can be repost. And also, we will not be tired and this should serve as a last warning to him , once we are here again , am not sure we will leave here in a haste,” vowed the NLC president.
The NLC president  said that the organized  labour  had as part of its efforts to  make the governor  yield to the workers demands  wrote an appeal letter to  President Muhammadu Buhari   to call the governor to order, but despite the president`s intervention,  he had refused to back down on his anti workers stance.
“Our message to Imo workers is that nothing comes easy, people must continue to fight for their freedom and that is why we are here with them. We will continue to resist when their rights and privileges are trampled upon. And I am happy that they are committed as they came out as early as 7.00a.m. They have been out and they are ready to occupy this place for a couple of days. They should not be tired; they must remain resolute to fight for their rights,” he said.
On his part, the TUC President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama condemned what he considered the arbitrariness of the governor in the use of the armed police and militia against law-abiding workers, describing it as unlawful, immoral and betrayal of the principles of democracy.
At the peak of the protest, Rochas, according to a source, sought to dialogue with labour and an agreement paper was prepared to be signed between government and the organized labour.
During the signing proper, Okorocha assured that he would not sack any workers again until he leaves office.
Daily Trust learnt that  the  reconciliation was  facilitated  by the  APC National Chairman, Chief John  Odigie-Oyegun who  led party leaders to Imo  to prevail on the governor to back down on his stance, which prompted  him to  sign  an agreement to recall the sacked workers as well as put in place payment of their backlog of salary.
He also suspended the concessioning of the management of the parastatals which forms parts of the demands of the workers.
While signing the agreement, Okorocha explained that he was trying to save cost in the face of the economic crisis rocking Nigeria and the world at large.
He said civil servants in the state is about  30,000 people which he said is a fractional part of the entire population of the state, adding that considering what the state generates as revenue and the feeding bottle share from the federal government, saying in his own wisdom it is not wise to use the whole allocations for salaries and wages since the state just like other states is in dire need of development.
He commended NLC/TUC presidents for their intervention, urging them to  discourage  workers  unchallant    attitudes to work  for maximum  productivity,  otherwise the agreement reached might not work effectively.
Responding, comrade Ayuba  Wabba  said  the workers who create  the wealth of any nation deserve  to be paid and have food on their table,  even as he  commended the governor for coming to terms with the workers and urged him to abide by the agreement and resolutions reached with the labour leaders   so as to foster unity that will lead to development.
Among the protesting Imo State workers is, Mrs.  Grace Uche,    who said that without the intervention of the organized labour, Okorocha would not have recalled the sacked workers, saying the workers appreciated the efforts of NLC and TUC for their support and not betraying the trust of the workers.
Another worker, who gave his name as Emmanuel Jacobs said he would only believe the signed agreement when the governor actually starts paying the reinstated workers because he never believes him.