Socialist Labour sends solidarity and support to the public sectors strikers of Cross River State. Like many state governors, the Governor of Cross River has plenty of money, but his priorities do not include the state and local government workers nor the pensioners.
The workers have finally had enough, from Tuesday, 12th October, they have been on indefinite strike, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Cross River State Government, as is the case with most states, has plenty of money. The price of crude oil is now around $85 a barrel, more than twice the level expected in the 2021 budget. The revenue for Cross River State has increased by around 60% over the last four years. As a result, it planned to dedicate almost three quarters of its budget for this year on capital projects. This is compared with less than a fifth of the budget allocated to pay the salaries of its workers and the pensions of its former staff.
In the first six months of this year, according to the state’s own quarterly budget performance report, Cross River State Government collected over 80% of its expected revenue, but spent not much more than half of its personnel budget for the period. The State is grossly over spending on capital and refusing to pay its workers as agreed – we need nurses as well as new health centres; teachers as well as new schools.
The state has failed to fully implement the N30,000 minimum wage, failed to implement promotions or annual increments and failed to pay its pensioners as required. In addition, teachers have suffered from loss of tax exemptions and allowances. The state has also illegally not remitted deductions from workers’ salaries. For these reasons, the workers of Cross River State need solidarity from across the country.
In a related issue, 352 interns at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital have not been paid their allowances for the last 11 months. Over 20% of the interns are now homeless due to inability to pay their rents.
In addition, the street sweepers of Calabar have not been paid their wages for the last six months. These amount to a misally N7,500 a month – less than the legal figure of N30,000. We congratulate them for their protests on Wednesday, 20th October and we are disgusted to hear that these women were attacked with tear gas by the police.
Socialist Labour offers its full support to the working peoples of Cross River State at both state and local government levels. We applaud the joint leadership of the NLC and the TUC in leading this strike and call for the action to be continued until justice and full victory is achieved.
However, the experience of other strikes in recent years suggest that a stay at home strike is not enough. The trade unions need to organise protests and town hall meetings to galvanise public support and put pressure on the State Government. They also need to call for solidarity action in other states where the workers are suffering similar problems. The NLC and TUC in Cross River also need to provide full support to the hospital interns and the women street cleaners of the state.
We demand that Cross River Government and other state governments immediately agree to the just demands of their workers, pay a decent minimum wage and make arrangements to settle their obligations to their workers and pensioners. We call on the striking workers to remain steadfast and united until their just demands are met.
Socialist Labour also calls on its supporters to provide the necessary support and solidarity for the workers involved. Finally, we call on the NLC and TUC at the national level to continue to provide support for this important dispute and to offer the necessary solidarity action if the government refuses to settle in the very near future.
Messages of support for this important strike and to the hospital interns can be sent to:
- Cross River State NLC via WhatsApp on 0803 733 2676 or 0806 497 0121
- University of Calabar Teaching Hospital representative for Interns via WhatsApp on: 0806 425 6797
Biodun Olamosu, National Secretary, Socialist Labour
