Railway workers have historically been neglected on the issue of welfare. This time, they vow never to suffer the fate of their forebears
By Eberechi Obinagwam,
The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) and Senior Staff Association (SSA) NRC Branch, have issued a three-day warning strike with effect from Thursday, November 18, to Saturday, November 20.
The union in a joint statement said that the three days nationwide warning strike will proceed to an indefinite one if their demands are not met.
The union said after a joint meeting held in Lagos on Wednesday, 10th November 2021 where various demands on the welfare of the workers of the corporation were critically discussed and reviewed.
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Also, the Railway workers in the statement disclosed that their intention of embarking on the strike is to bring to the awareness of the federal government, the management, and the Nigerian public to the painful and inhuman condition under which the railway workers work in Nigerian Railway, and to ultimately earn the empathy of the public, and that of the federal government to meet their legitimate and just demands.
President, Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR), Comrade Innocent L. Ajiji said that the entire workers of the Corporation have sworn never again to continue to suffer deprivations, demotivation, neglect, and poverty while the diverse Nigerian publics exist in the conviction that all is rosy with them because of the heavy media blitz in the infrastructural renewals ongoing in the rail transport sub-economy.
The union said that their legitimate demands have always been played around without providing definitive responses with a view to meeting them.
They listed some of their grievances to include; “rents to the occupants of the demolished quarters at Alagomeji, Local area beyond just one year rent given to them in 2018 when their quarters were demolished for the construction of Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway. You tactically rejected this hence making life so harrowing for the affected occupants;
“Non-payment of promotion arrears for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 which was caused through delay, year in year out, in administrative preparation for the promotion exercise; Report of skipped and unpaid monthly salaries of some workers especially those who entered service in 2019; Transferring workers without adequate provision of accommodation and relocation allowances;
“Deliberate refusal to complete the review of the standard condition of service started a few years ago and which was last reviewed for implementation in 1978; delayed allocation of the replaced quarters to all the occupants of the demolished quarters at Ebj and environs hence causing the affected workers serious mental, social, and financial agony past three years;
“Demolition of some quarters in Oshogbo and subsequent reallocation of same to the affected occupants as rest houses instead of allocation as staff quarters;
“Demolition of staff quarters in Ikeja and handing same to LAMATA without due diligence and without a tripartite agreement between LAMATA, the workers’ representatives and management detailing conditions, terms and plans to replace the demolished quarters, etc.
“While others include non-payment of allowances to the workers especially those workers in AKTS and WITS who work even in the weekends and beyond 40 hours a week as clearly prescribed by the PSR; demand for salary enhancement; conversion of some workers in our industrial clinics from CONHESS to CONPSS salary regime deliberately ignoring the fact that these workers are to enjoy CONHESS salary structure as succinctly explained in the circular from the office of the Executive Chairman of the NSIWC, Ref No SWC/S/04/S.410/Vol. II/349 of 8th December 2009; general deplorable condition of work and lots more,”