Looming labour crisis threatens industrial peace in Akwa Ibom

Looming labour crisis over unpaid workers’ entitlements is threatening the existing industrial peace in Akwa Ibom State, as union leaders are set for a showdown.

The workers, under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), have kicked against the non-payment of their leave allowances, non-payment of promotion arrears and the alleged deduction of personal income tax from their salaries by the state government.

The union leaders have also frowned at the non-payment of thousands of workers more than six months after they had been employed, including nurses, doctors and teachers, accusing the state of not being sensitive to their welfare.

Other demands include recovery of primary schools counterpart funding from the Federal Government, payment of arrears of four months salaries to local government workers in Ikot Ekpene, two months salaries to workers in Abak, and a month arrears to workers in Ikono, Ini and Uruefong Oruko local government areas.

According to Etim Ukpong, chairman, NLC in the state, the NLC will no longer accept further “re-introduction of Personal Income Tax (PITA) without proper agreement between labour and government.

“As we speak, nurses working in local governments too are being owed the same arrears. Teachers employed and sent to junior secondary schools under state secondary board must be paid. The local government and chieftaincy affairs had rejected them and asked these ones to go to state secondary education board. As I speak, they have not gotten December salary.

“As if government’s blunt refusal to address lingering issues in those areas was not enough embarrassment to leadership of Labour and workers, government has in recent days added salt to already nagging injury by resorting to attacking, financially blackmailing by economically crippling the union and the workers.’’

On the issue of check-off dues, said to be deducted and kept for months without remittance, the NLC said it suspected fowl play ‎and threatened to block gates of the office of the Accountant General sooner than expected.

Meanwhile, it was gathered that the state government and labour leaders were having a closed-door meeting over the industrial crisis in the state.