Former Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC in Rivers State, Comrade Beatrice Itubo, has berated the National Leadership of NLC for canceling the May Day celebration in the state over the State of Emergency declared in the State.
Speaking with our correspondent in Ogbakiri, Comrade Itubo, explained that the celebration would have allowed workers in the state to present their grievances.
According to her, the directive to cancel the celebration by the NLC national leadership, should have been nationwide, instead of Rivers and Edo state only.
She said “that type of directive is not really necessary, May 1st that is the day we appraise our situation in the past years, we interact with one another and see how we can also send our problem to management and then we begin to dialogue. If there is any reason for workers not to dialogue it should be nationwide, the state of emergency did not originate from the state”.
Also Read: NLC Cancels May Day Celebration in Rivers, Edo
While acknowledging that pension is being paid monthly in the state, Comrade Itubo, however, lamented that there has been no consequential adjustment of pension in line with existing laws which stipulate that pension should be adjusted once there is any salary review.
Also Read: NLC Rivers State Threatens Strike Over Court Order Halting Monthly Allocations
“Since the beginning of the state I don’t think that any government or succeeding government have come to discuss the adjustment of pensions, there are laws that says as salaries are reviewed even pensions should be reviewed and unfortunately nobody have done that, that’s why you can see even in Rivers State some pensioners are taking less than two thousand naira as their monthly pension, that’s why am calling on the authority to sit up and see how they can review the pension” she noted.
Comrade Itubo, who also called for the increment of allocation for gratuity to clear outstanding gratuity arrears of retirees, urged workers in the state to put in their best, not minding the political development in the state.
