All Kaduna State-owned hospitals as well as commercial banks in parts of the state were yesterday shut down following an indefinite strike embarked upon by civil servants over the non-implementation of the minimum wage by the state government.
The personnel of government hospitals and schools did not turn up for their normal duties, while Kaduna State government has continued to dialogue with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state towards persuading the unions to call off the strike.
The state, through the Commissioner of Education and chairman, minimum wage implementation committee, Mohammed Usman, in a press conference stated that there were ‘gray’ areas yet to be sorted out in the series of dialogue between the government and the unions.
Usman said: “We are calling on workers to return to work, and we are appealing to the Labour Unions to come for further negotiation. No matter what actions they are taking today, you will always end up on the negotiation table. We must continue with the dialogue.”
He further noted that local government workers salary was one of the most daunting challenge, while he doused fears that there was imminent sack of some workers.