We Have Been Paid Up To June- Osun NLC Chairman
The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Osun state chapter, Comrade Babatunde Jacob Adekomi on Thursday said the state government has paid the salary of all workers in the state up to June, 2017 in line with the agreement made between it and the labour union.
This was even as Adekomi disclosed that the leadership of the union has reached a compromise with the state government on the disbursement of the second tranche of Paris Club Refunds to offset parts of the balance of the modulated salaries.
He said workers whose salaries fell within the modulation will start receiving credit alert of 2months balance of July and August, 2015 from Thursday 27th this month.
Osun NLC Chairman said the payment will be made out of the N6.3billion recently received by the state as refunds of Paris Club.
Comrade Adekomi stated this while fielding questions from the moderators on a live radio programme of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation, OSBC.
According to him, the state government and the labour union had met on Wednesday where it was decided that the state should pay July and August, 2015 balance of the modulated salaries of workers whose pay had been on modulation since 2015.
Adekomi bemoaned over what he described as concocted lies, the insinuation peddling round that Osun government has failed in meeting up with the salary of workers in the state.
NLC state Chairman wondered how a state who was allegedly accused of not paying workers would agreed to offset part of the outstanding salary arrears from the refunds recently received.
He said Aregbesola’s administration has been highly sensitive to workers plights in all it does, a development which he said has made Osun to be an outstanding among its peers when the recession set in.
The labour union leader in the state condemned in it entirety the speculations that all workers in the state are receiving modulated salary of their gross earns, saying it is only category of workers between grade levels 12 to 17 that receive half of their monthly salaries.
Adekomi explained that workers on levels 8 to10 are paid by 75 percent of their salary while workers on grade levels 1 to 7 are paid in full, adding that the state did not in anyway owing this category of workers a dime of their salary.
Osun NLC Chairman said Governor Aregbesola has been sensitive to workers’ plights, a resolve which he said has made Osun to be an outstanding and a model while the recession set in.
He said the state government under the leadership of Governor Rauf Aregbesola has been making several sacrifices to ensure prompt payment of salaries of active workers and pensions of the inactive workforce.
“I always wonder why some people felt that the best way to gain attention is to concoct lies. I am a civil servant and I can never say what I don’t see or have knowledge about.
“It is on records that this government has been meeting up its salary obligations to workers before the recession set in and practically difficult to continue in such spirit.
“But since we (government and workers) mutually reached a compromise that resorted at modulated salaries for some categories of workers, the state has been up to its responsibilities as regards this.
“Workers on grade levels 1-7 are paid up to date in full while those between grade levels 8-10 received 75% of their salaries up to date. Though this category of workers were between July 2015 to September 2016 received half of their monthly salary before it was resolved at 75% when the economy improved a bit.
“So, it is only workers between levels 12 and above that have been since July 2015 receiving half salary. But I am glad to say that the payment of the balance of their salary has commenced with the payment of 2 months – July and August 2015 this week”, Adekomi narated.
