The Rivers State Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Mrs. Beatrice Itubo has stated that the workers welfare will ever remain her priority and will never take their mandate for granted.
She stated this in an exclusive interview with the National Network Newspaper in her office in Port Harcourt over the weekend.
The NLC chairman further said that though the Rivers State government built and equipped a befitting secretariat for the union for which they are grateful, that their relationship cannot be said to be cordial.
According to her, “the tongue and teeth might not be the best of friends but they managed to live together”, she said.
Comrade Mrs. Itubo made it clear that the issue of the unpaid suffering pensioners has reached an alarming rate as most of the senior citizens are dying instalmentally as a result iil-health without money to attend to their medical bills.
The iron lady warned that if all entreaties fails, she will personally led the pensioners protest and even involve their National Secretariat into the matter.
She disclosed further that the challenge is not that of lack of money but that of insensitivity and lack of political will to pay the pensions and gratuities accrued, adding that if only a token sum of N500million is conscientiously set aside monthly for this purpose, it will go a long way to emileorating the situation and save everybody from the embarrassment.
She made it clear that it is important that a more befitting civil service and institutions are bequeathed to the next generation. The chairman appealed to stakeholders to ensure that the right thing is done.
“Nobody would want the system to collapse at his/her own time,” she stressed.
The NLC chairman stated that since her assumption of office, she has never made outrageous demand or done anything for her personal benefit from the management. “It has always been workers welfare bothering on minimum wage, promotion, pensioners, gratuities as well as unnecessary muscling of workers interest.
On how she managed to gain the confidence of the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike to the point of building a secretariat for them, Mrs. Itubo said it was a matter of consistency, commitment and being focused on her given mandate of protecting the workers interest.
“When we came on board, our enemies cashed in on the United Labour Congress (ULC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) feud branding us as opposition members sponsored by the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) party. And so every move or request we made was considered from that point of view. There were a lot of blackmail, gossip and scheming”.
The chairman made it known that she was not a politician neither does she like their ways “They pull one another down or even kill in order to get their way”.
She further disclosed that the governor must have observed and discovered that what he heard did not conform with the reality, that was why the government’s attitude towards the labour officials changed for the better.
On her miraculous coming back for a second tenure, Mrs. Itubo said though she had retired from service, it was the workers who went to Abuja and ensured her continuity as a union staff which gave her the opportunity to re-contest for the second tenure going by her performance in the first tenure.
On her achievements so far, Mrs. Itubo listed them to include engagement of the management to repeal the Contributory Pension Scheme and revert back to the Defined Benefit Scheme.
Labour, she disclosed, has been able to stop the Contributory Health Protection Scheme Insurance arguing that the government would come out with perfect ideas but lacks the will to implement them, citing the case of the Federal Mortgage Bank housing policy of the past which no worker has been able to access till date.
“We have been able also to stabilize even the private sector workers. As we came in, we set up the Anti-Casualization Committee to monitor, picket and unionize the workers in the sector”.
The Union Chairman equally said they are still battling with the case of workers promotion and of course the controversial N30,000 minimum wage for workers.
On the issue of minimum wage controversy, she explained that they don’t envisage any problem there since the state governor like his predecessors in office has promised to pay whatever that is eventually agreed upon with the federal government.
“We are still waiting for the National Salary, Wages and Income Commission to come out with whatever template agreed on.”
But be rest assured that the workers of Rivers State will received nothing less than that of the federal workers. Even the workers attest to our performance that we are trying.
They know that we are trying our best, we might not be there yet but there is room for improvement.”
On the challenges confronting the union, Comrade (Mrs) Itubo also enumerated them to include, how to convince the management that you mean well especially when one come in contact with those who are not labour friendly, or those whose mind have been polluted against the union leaders.
“New management comes with its own disposition towards workers, and perception towards welfare and it’s the labour union officials and its our duty to consistently engage them diplomatically pushing our case”.
The chairman made it known that no reasonable labour union will agitate for outrageous issue as members of the same society.
