Defence ministry’s workers threaten strike over pay

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has threatened to embark on strike if the Defence Ministry fails to pay thousands of civilian employees their allowances, including promotion arrears that have been outstanding since 2011.

The ASCSN in a statement by its Secretary-General, Mr. Alade Lawal, and obtained by Saturday PUNCH in Abuja, said the ultimatum was necessary because it was unfair that “an institution which prides itself as an epitome of discipline, equity, and fairness could decide to oppress and dehumanise thousands of its civilian workers by denying them their entitlements.”

The organisation said efforts to discuss the labour issues causing restiveness and negotiate with the ministry authorities had been unsuccessful, urging the Defence Ministry to “convey the meeting or face industrial action.”

Lawal said, “It is necessary to emphasise that if within this period the meeting is not called, the national leadership of the union should not be held responsible if thousands of civilian employees in the Ministry of Defence decide to resort to self-help to resolve the impasse.”

The ASCSN regretted that even though the leadership of the union and the management of the ministry had agreed that there should be quarterly meetings to address the lingering labour issues and new ones that might emerge; no meeting had been held since the agreement was reached on December 16, 2014.

The issues in dispute include non-payment of promotion arrears since 2011 to date; non-placement of staff after their promotion; short-payment/non-payment of salary arrears and non-payment of hanging salaries.

Others are non-payment of Duty Tour Allowance to staff on duties outside their station; non-payment of death benefits and package/repatriation allowance and delay in conversion/upgrading of staff.

The union recalled that the first quarterly meeting was fixed for February 5, 2015, but was subsequently rescheduled for February 10 on the excuse that the Permanent Secretary, who had been scheduled to be part of the meeting, was out of the country.

The ASCSN said, “On February 10, 2015, when the national leadership of the unions arrived at Ship House, Abuja to attend the rescheduled meeting, no management team of the Ministry of Defence was available for the parley. All efforts to get information on why the meeting could not hold proved abortive.

“The Deputy Director (Staff Welfare), however, promised that he would liaise with the Permanent Secretary with a view to getting a new date for the first quarterly meeting. Unfortunately, no meeting has been fixed up-till now.

“If the 14-day ultimatum expires without the management of the Ministry convening a meeting to address the labour issues, thousands of civilian workers in the Ministry would have no other alternative but to embark on strike action to drive home their demands.”