Shehu Sani backs labour’s stance on union membership

Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone, Shehu Sani, has supported Labour’s stance in the contending issue between workers in the state and the government over membership of trade unions.

Sani said that Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s decision on a verification exercise and urging workers to choose if they want to continue their membership with trade unions “is a ploy to deunionise them and make them defenceless,” urging civil servants in the state to resist such directives.

The state government in a statement signed by Media Aide to the Governor, Mallam Samuel Aruwan, titled “Kaduna State Government Says Verification Is Compulsory” reminded “all public servants that it is compulsory to participate in the ongoing final phase of the verification exercise.”

The statement added that: “Public servants are first employees before they become union members. Refusal to participate in verification will result in the concerned persons being removed from the payroll. It is a priority for the state to use the information from this phase to conclude the verification exercise and update its payroll.”

While receiving officials of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) from seven council areas in the state, Senator Sani said that: “This action by the government is not the basis for which we were elected to serve the people.

“The government had earlier embarked on demolition of peoples’ houses, cannot put food on the table of innocent workers, cannot pay salaries for months and now it is attempting to deunionise the workers and make them defenceless.

“I think it is time you should resist these unfriendly workers policies. I will stand to defend you while fighting for your fundamental rights to belong to unions. I have been doing it before and I will continue to do it. All of you should stand firm around NLC and your leaders to ensure that your rights are not taken away from you.”