Edo JUSUN threatens another strike over non-payment of seven months salary

The leadership of the Edo State chapter of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Thursday threatened to embark on another round of industrial action over the alleged failure of the state government to pay its seven months salary.

BusinessDay reports that the union had last July called off its six months strike that started January following the intervention of prominent personalities in the state that included clerics, members of the civil societies, among others.

Uyi Ogieriakhi, state chairman of the union, who briefed newsmen at the union secretariat in Benin City, said members would not hesitate to embark on another round of industrial action if the state government fail to fulfil its term of agreement with the union before calling off its strike last July.

Ogieriakhi said the decision of the union to embark on strike would soon be unveiled in its next congress, and called on the personalities that earlier intervened in calling off of the strike to also prevail on the state government to pay the staff their seven months salary.

“As we speak now, we are still suffering from the outcome of the strike action. We were all told that we are involved in that discussion and there is need now for them to take a position because the crisis in the judiciary is again very imminent,” he said.

The union has decided to delay in embarking on strike because they want the crisis to be resolved rather than being underrated by the government, he said.

He also added that the union in July 2014, embarked on strike over judiciary autonomy, noting that the state had not paid them salary for that month.

The chairman posited that since January 2015 to date staff had not been paid salary, and condemned what he “described as a quasi-judiciary autonomy” granted to judiciary arm of government by the state government.

He opined that the payments of judicial workers salary by the state government through the state office of ICT negate the principle of autonomy and that of the Edo State House of Assembly that approved budgetary allocation to the arm.