Edo NULGE to begin indefinite strike Today

The Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike on Wednesday over the non-payment of salary arrears of workers in the state.

The State Chairman of NULGE, Edward Ilenikhena, disclosed this to The PUNCH on Tuesday in Benin, the state capital.

Ilenikhena explained that workers in the 18 local government councils were owed salary arrears between two to 18 months‎, with Egor local government council having the highest backlog of unpaid salaries.

According to him, the union would stage a mass protest in Benin, after which the strike would commence.

“Effective tomorrow, we are ‎embarking on a mass protest in Benin, after which we will proceed on an indefinite strike,” he said on the telephone.

The state government had on May 1 promised to intervene in the payment of outstanding salary arrears of Egor workers, after the council was omitted from the bailout the state received from the federal government. 

But Ilenikhena said, “Those were just statements; the promise started right from May 1. As we speak, even the seventh-month bailout he (governor) said he would apply for them, none has been implemented.

However, with less than six weeks to the September 10 governorship election, he noted that ‎though the union would not influence the voting pattern of its members, they were not satisfied with the current development.

He said,  

“The decision is their own; we do not have permanent voter cards for the union. But I cannot even ‎visit them in any of their LGAs because of the anger they have over the salaries not being paid to them.”