Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Anambra chapter, on Friday renewed call for full implementation of Consolidated Judiciary Staff Salary Structure (CONJUSS) by the state government.
JUSUN state chairman, Mr Mark Ifezue, who stated this at a media briefing in Awka, insisted that the union would not call-off its three-month-old strike if government fails to implement the CONJUSS.
Ifezue explained that the decision was a directive of the national body of JUSUN following the “insincere willingness of the state government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state to end the strike.’’
According to him, “our original position was ‘no CONJUSS, no work’, even though government later showed interest in reviewing the salary structure in the third quarter of 2016.
“However, the turning point was when government during a meeting with the union failed to show interest in paying the withheld workers’ salary of September and October; rather government chose to split the union.
“Again, my attention was drawn to a communiqué, where NLC on Dec. 17, appealed to the leadership of JUSUN in the state to sign the proposed agreement with the state government,’’ he said.
Ifezue said he has nothing against NLC appeal, adding that he expected NLC to appeal to the government to pay the withheld salaries.
“It is most unfair for the NLC to centre its appeal on JUSUN when it was only at about 2p.m. on Thursday that the state government expressed its intent to fully retire the salaries in three months, from January to March, 2016 which was not in the proposed agreement.
“The national leadership of JUSUN after reading our report, kicked against the proposal due to government’s insincerity and directed that we demand full implementation of CONJUSS,” he explained.
Ifezue stressed that the strike was a legitimate agitation and not intended to scuttle Gov. Willie Obiano’s administration.
It could be recalled that the state chapter of JUSUN embarked on industrial action on Sept. 7 to compel the government to implement the Consolidated Judiciary Staff Salary Structure.
