Plateau Govt. Approves 3 Months Salary For Striking Workers

The Plateau?Government has approved three months salary for its striking local government workers as part of efforts to placate them to end their eight months industrial action.

The state government said in a statement signed by its Director of Press Affairs, Mr James Mannok, in Jos on Thursday that Gov.?Jonah Jang had decided to tamper with the “no work no pay’’ policy on compassionate grounds.

“The issue is already before the National Industrial Court for interpretation, but government has approved payment of salaries to resuming workers with effect from October to December 2012,’’ the statement said.

The statement advised workers to take advantage of the gesture and join their colleagues that resumed in October?and had been paid.

It promised that government would fully respect the outcome and decision of the court on the matter whenever it was issued.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the local government workers have been on strike since May to press for the payment of the N18,000 national minimum wage.

Last month, labour and the state government settled for 55 per cent of the minimum wage, but the workers rejected the insistence by government that it would only pay for the period the workers were at work.

In insisting on that, Jang had claimed that he was relying on a UN resolution that stipulated that no worker should be paid for a period he deliberately stayed out of office.

The labour leaders have, however, argued that the law could not be applicable in Nigeria since it has not been domesticated in the nation’s statute books. (NAN)?