Federal workers, under the Federal Workers Forum (FWF), have called on the federal government, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to pay their outstanding three-month wage awards.
The workers made this demand during an online meeting held on Saturday.
The federal government had introduced a wage award for workers after the subsidy was removed from Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). However, the workers are yet to receive their wage awards for March, April, and May.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the federal workers emphasized that they are not slaves and urged the government to pay their outstanding wages. They appealed to the government to meet their demands to avoid any industrial action.
The communiqué, made available through the National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, stated: “It has been nearly four months since the federal government stopped the payment of wage awards to federal workers. Despite repeated pleas to the federal government (FG) to resume the payments, all efforts have fallen on deaf ears.
“The federal government workers met online to critically review our last request to the FG to pay the outstanding March, April, and May wage awards, among other things. It was generally agreed that the FG is pretending not to know that we, the federal workers, are experiencing unimaginable hardship since the removal of the fuel subsidy.
“We, therefore, resolve as follows: To embark on continuous peaceful protests and demonstrations in all federal government secretariats nationwide. These protests will become a ritual until the welfare needs of the federal workers and pensioners are addressed.
“The protests will commence on June 24th and continue until the issues of the wage award and the new national minimum wage are resolved. Every federal worker must take this protest as a duty, and anyone who opposes this continuous protest is an enemy of the workers.
“We call for the support and solidarity of all industrial unions, the NLC, and the TUC as we, the federal workers, embark on this marathon session of peaceful protests and demonstrations across the federation. We condemn the idea of retired federal workers waiting for over a year before receiving their pensions and gratuities.
“We urge federal workers to be armed with the fact that protest is a fundamental human right, and any federal worker who decides to dodge this collective agreement is a traitor. We are citizens, not slaves. Enough of this exploitation of the vulnerable. The government has cheated us enough. Pay us what you owe us. We have worked for it; we are not beggars.”
