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Workers seal off Ekiti teaching hospital over unpaid N1.6 billion deductions, others

By Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan) and Ayodele Afolabi (Ado-Ekiti)
23 August 2022   |   3:50 am
Medical workers of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, locked the health institution while protesting over alleged unpaid N1.6 billion co-operative deductions and other emoluments by the management.

• Pensioners’ scribe asks workers to reject planned retrenchment of over 50-year-old staff
• Labour leaders call for unity among union members

Medical workers of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, locked the health institution while protesting over alleged unpaid N1.6 billion co-operative deductions and other emoluments by the management.

Chairman, EKSUTH chapter, Mr. Omotola Farotimi, while addressing the protesting workers, under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), who had converged at the main gate of the institution located at Adebayo area and sealed off the hospital premises, said the action was necessitated by non-payment of salary arrears, co-operative deductions, non-implementation of minimum wage and unpaid leave bonuses.

Farotimi, who regretted that co-operative deductions had not been paid by the management in the last 24 months, thereby increasing the tally to an aggregate of N1.6 billion without hope that the amount would be defrayed in record time, said: “When this government came in 2018, the aggregate of the outstanding deductions was N500 million. But now, it has swelled to as much as N1.6 billion.

“Another issue that has been in agitation is the issue of minimum wage. It has been implemented for workers at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti. Even in Ekiti State, all health workers are being paid, except our members.”

BUT reacting , the EKSUTH’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Kayode Olabanji, said the management had met with JOHESU last week Thursday and reassured them of commitment to accede to their requests.

Olabanji added that a letter of assurance had been given to JOHESU leadership, thereby reinforcing the management’s commitment to ensuring that all the backlog of emoluments will be paid.

IN another development, Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Oyo State Chapter, Olusegun Abatan, has urged workers to brace up for fight to finish on the proposed plan to retrench workers who are 50-year-old in the civil service by the Federal Government.

Abatan gave the charge while addressing delegates at the sixth quadrennial state delegates’ conference (SDC) of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), which had the theme, ‘’Trade Union Sustainability: The Role Of Education, Leadership Style And Ideological Commitment In Rebuilding a Strong Trade Union,” held at the National Commission for Museum and Monuments, Aleshinloye, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Abatan said that the plan would not see the light of the day. He, therefore, admonished the delegates to unite against oppression from any angle and pursue the tenet of labour union.

National President of AUPCTRE, Benjamin Anthony, charged all delegates to actively and sincerely participate in the conference by discussing issues that are pertinent to the progress of the entire members and that of the union at large.

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