LABOUR LEADERS IN IMO REJECTS STATE GOVT APPOINTED NLC CHAIRMAN, INSISTS ON CHILAKPU

Reporter : UGONNA AGU

Some stakeholders in labour matters in Imo State have expressed dismay over the purported sack of the state Chairman, Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Austin Chilakpu, by the state Governor and appointment of Comrade Ndubuisi Uchehara as the new Chairman.

They also called on the state government to pay the salaries of workers, pensioners and conclude negotiations on the new minimum wage.

Workers in Imo State on Monday, this week, woke up to the news of alleged passage of vote of no confidence and sack of the state NLC Chairman, Comrade Chilakpu by some workers on the grounds of his failure to negotiate with the state government over their affairs.

He was said to have been replaced by a Caretaker Committee led by Comrade Ndubuisi Uchehara, whom Governor Hope Uzodinma inaugurated to manage the affairs of the union pending a legislative election.

This gave rise to a meeting of the State Administrative Committe of the Congress, where it was resolved among other things that the leadership of Comrade Chilakpu still remained and the on going industrial action embarked upon by the workers would continue.

The state Secretary of the Union, Comrade Ken Onwuemedo, in an interview told Radio Nigeria, that NLC was not a prastatal of the Imo State Government and the government had no right to remove or replace any sitting executive of the union.

“We served the State Government a fourteen days ultimatum after series of meetings to resolve the issues we raised.

“Over nine thousand workers both in the local government, in the ministries and parastatals are owed between February and December 2020 salaries, even the pensioners, we have about six thousand for hundred and thirteen,” the State NLC Scribed noted.

Comrade Onwuemedo decried the state government’s failure to meet the demands of the workers and its use of intimidation to silence the union.

Also, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman in the state, Comrade Nkim Tangban, said he was not aware of any change in the state NLC leadership as the union had not been briefed of any.

“The leadership of Comrade Austine Chilakpu, which the election was conducted over one year ago is the leadership they we recognise,” the TUC Chairman insisted.

Comrade Tangba, pointed out that no inauguration could hold without a proper election and called on the newly appointed chairman not to be used to destabilise the organised Labour in the state.

Similarly, the allegedly ousted NLC State Chairman, Comrade Chilakpu, who had served only seventeen months of his four year tenure, called on Imo workers to disregard anyone parading himself as the state NLC Chairman as he remained the authentic chairman.

He noted that the leadership of the NLC operated on a national level and followed a constitutional laid down structure.

“On the 27th December 2020, the government asked all the workers to go home as a result of the Coronavirus and up till now, they have not been called back.

“They claim the workers met, I don’t know where they met,” the embattled NLC Chairman queried.

Comrade Chilakpu maintained that the thirty-two industrial unions that make up the NLC Imo State had not been disintegrated.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed NLC Chairman, Comrade Ndubuisi Uchehara, had in an interview with Radio Nigeria promised to create an enabling environment where the government and Imo workers would see themselves as partners in progress.

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