NLC, Bauchi government lock horns over workers’ pay
Union threatens strike
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Bauchi State government have disagreed over the handling of state’s workers’ salaries for the month of July.
Addressing journalists yesterday at a press conference in Bauchi, the state chairman of NLC, Danjuma Saleh, gave the government seven days to do the needful or the union would embark on strike.
Saleh said that the union, after meeting with the State Administrative Council (SAC) of NLC, resolved to draw the attention of the government to indiscriminate remuneration of workers.
He explained that some workers were removed from the payroll, while others were short-paid of their allowances for the month of June and July 2020, especially those in the health sector.
According to him, over 10,000 workers could not access their July salaries, which the union saw as a prelude to retrenchment.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Finance, Umaru Adamu, explained that some salaries were not paid because of fraudulent acts within the workforce.
He said: “Some people have been benefitting from these fraudulent acts and would not want to see it end. We will not deny any worker his or her legitimate salary. Those collecting salary illegally are the ones complaining and we are trying to plug such leakages.”
The commissioner said the government had discovered about 300 workers with suspicious accounts.
He denied the allegation that the state government was trying to reduce the number of workers in the state, pointing out that the administration had embarked on sanitising the payroll and nominal roll of government in which it identified anomalies.
“Salaries of some workers were not paid or were delayed because there were several issues with the payroll and nominal roll,” he said.
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