Workers in Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly on Thursday in Uyo, began a three-day warning strike following the refusal of the state government to honour the agreement it reached with the union on the payment of the new consolidated salary structure.
The aggrieved workers, who were over 100, blocked the entrance to the Assembly gates, bearing fresh plantain leaves and other objects, and prevented visitors from gaining access to the complex.
The workers also chanted anti-government songs during the protest in front of the Assembly complex.
They condemned the government for paying lip service to the welfare of the workers despite that the state was an oil-rich place.
Speaking with journalists, the State Chairman of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, Mr. Kufre-Abasi Aderi, said the union decided to embark on the strike after the expiration of 21-day ultimatum the union gave the government expired.
The PASAN chairman declared that lawmakers had refused to look into the demand and the plight of the workers after a series of agreements between the union and the Assembly workers.
He listed two of the workers’ demands as the non-payment of outfit allowance and non-implementation of new consolidated salary schemes.
Aderi also decried the poor and unhygienic working condition of the Assembly complex, saying it needed an overhaul.
“Consequent upon this, the entire staff of the state House of Assembly, after due consultation, unanimously declared a three-day warning strike from yesterday,” he said.
He stated that if the government failed to yield to the request of the union after the warning strike, the workers would embark on an indefinite industrial action to press home their demands.
