The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) says the picketing of Thisday Newspaper was a necessary action to ensure that a worker gets his wage.
In a press statement signed by Peters Adeyemi, the acting president, “We at the Nigeria Labour Congress wish to express our full solidarity with our affiliate members at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as they picket the premises of This Day for being in arrears of payment of salaries for nine months and for non-remittance of tax, pension, cooperative deductions from paid salaries,” the statement said.
It adds: “The principle and logic of the Labourer deserving his wages is infinite, sacred, sacrosanct and forms the grundnorm of the employer-worker relationship.
“The violation of this not only negates the essence and basis of work but imperils the family and statutory obligations of the worker to the State and his God. In a few words, it is an invitation to the creation of non-society.
The picketing of This Day represents a bold and courageous response after all the processes of an amicable resolution had been exhausted.
“It also represents the beginning of a long process of engagement with other non-salary-paying media organizations such as the AIT (3-6 months salary arrears); the Daily Independent (3-6 months arrears); Tell (8 months arrears); the National Mirror (4 months arrears); Newswatch Daily (7 months);The News/PM News (9 months); the Daily Champion (18 months); Hallmark (5 months) and the Daily Times (6 months).
“We stand shoulder to shoulder on the picket line with our members as they seek to enforce their fundamental rights against these organisations. In the spirit of our cherished slogan of “an injury to one is an injury to all” Congress stands ready to avail our affiliate its full solidarity and support if this unfortunate situation lingers.
“We need businesses, especially media businesses that perform the dual role of employment and watchdog. We find it an irony that these media organizations which have been in the forefront of the popular struggle for the enforcement of the social contract between the State and the Citizenry, have themselves been in default of a basic and fundamental obligation to their employees.
“We must point out without equivocation that this default undermines their moral authority to speak out. In light of the above, the media organizations should muster all the necessary resources to pay up not just these salary arrears but subsequent salaries as they fall due.
“The notion held by some of the proprietors that the possession alone of the identity card of their media organisations is a meal ticket, is patently false and should be discarded. If they believe it is that easy, let them run the organizations from the street themselves,” the statement said.