Poly unions urge FG to prioritise workers’ welfare in 2018

Two workers unions in the nation’s Federal Polytechnic on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to prioritise the welfare of workers in 2018.

The unions: Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Institutions, urged government to pay all outstanding promotion arrears from 2013 to 2016 to their members.

The union leaders told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that government should fast-track the negotiation for the new minimum wage.

In his comments, Tunbosun Ilesanmi, NASU Chairman, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) chapter, told NAN that improvement of workers’ welfare would boost their morale and enhance productivity in the New Year.

Ilesanmi said that the new minimum wage, being proposed, should be commensurate with the economic challenges confronting workers in the country.

He appealed to the government to avoid anything that could cause industrial action in 2018.

Ilesanmi said that most federal polytechnics were owing their workers three years promotion arrears, urging government to pay up.

He said: “My expectation this year is that government should prioritise the welfare of general workers; we want the government to pay us all our promotion arrears.

“We need a minimum wage that will address most of our needs, if not all.

“I am also appealing to the Federal Government to shun whatever policy that would instigate the workers to strike.’’

Also, Olorunbe Omopariola, the Chairman of SSANIP, also Yabatech branch, said that the negotiation committee on the new minimum wage should resume talks in earnest.

Omopariola said that the present economic situation would require a better living wage for the workers.

He recalled that in 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration increased the price of petrol from N96 to N145, the government then promised to ameliorate the sufferings of workers.

He said: “The time to fulfill the promise to Nigerians is long overdue; we have waited long enough for the new minimum wage.

“We want the committee to swing into action and present a new living minimum wage that will be commensurate with the present economic situation in the country.’’

He also urged the Federal Government to pay all outstanding promotions and salary (CONTISS 15) arrears to workers in the polytechnics.

NAN.