Staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have declared a trade disputes with the management of the commission over what they describe as ‘unfair Labour practices’.
The workers, under the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), warned that a breakdown of law and order was becoming inevitable.
In a letter address to Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, they urge the minister to intervene by asking government to do the needful to avoid disruption of activities and the relative peace being enjoyed in NIMC.
The letter titled: Notification of Trade Dispute by Employer/Worker’s Organisation, read in part: “In accordance with Section 4 of the Trade Disputes Decree, 1976, I, Comrade Akin Okudero, Asst. General Secretary (Organising) on behalf of the General Secretary, Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), hereby give notice that a trade dispute has been declared between the said SSASCGOC and NIMC management.”
It listed points of dispute to include: attempt by NIMC management to force SSASCGOC members into the Association of Senior a Civil Service of Nigeria (ASCSN) against the Labour Act; biased and unfair Labour practice as well as refusal to release promotion letters of staff who passed the 2015 promotion examination.
Others include: management’s refusal to implement the recommendation of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission on the salary structure of NIMC; and an alleged placing of officers who falsified records by obtaining fake conversion promotion/appointment letters above other staff who did not participate in the fraud.
It also included victimisation of SSASCGOC executive members in NIMC, misuse and abuse of public service rules, while all steps taken to reach agreement, such as various letters written and meetings held were without resolution.
