Rivers health workers declare indefinite strike — amid coronavirus outbreak

BY EDEM DARLINGTON

Health workers in Rivers state have declared an indefinite strike amid the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

Rivers recorded its first case of the disease hours after the health workers began strike on Wednesday.

In a circular to their members, the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), asked the workers to stay off work.

The union leadership cited the governor’s “refusal” to pay the new 30,000 minimum wage as reason for the strike.

One of the leaders told TheCable: “In January, he paid some money to some workers N20,000, others N15,000 and so on. We can’t accept this.

“Labour asked the template he used to arrive at such, because he had not concluded negotiations with the organised labour but there was no response.”

The union also alleged that the governor had excluded staff of tertiary institutions (universities and polytechnics) from those to enjoy the minimum wage.

Another labour leader said the refusal of the government to pay pensioners for a long time contributed to the strike.

Paulinus Nsirim, commissioner for information, said there was a court injunction stopping the union from embarking on strike.