Workers on the payroll of Delta State, on Wednesday disagreed with Governor Sheriff Oborevwori over the inability of the latter to make policy statement on minimum wage.
The 2024 May Day celebration with theme, “People First,” featured march past by the various affiliate unions in the state.
The workers who were desperately expecting Governor Oborevwori to announce a new minimum wage got aggrieved when he ended his address at the 2024 Workers’ Day celebration in Asaba without making reference to the new wage.
Disrupting the Governor’s address, the workers started chanting, “No, no, no, we no gree, pay us our minimum wage”, after the governor insisted that the workers should not cajole him into paying a new minimum wage.
The workers who insisted that they had earlier discussed the matter with him, jettisoned all attempts made by the governor to bring the situation under control.
“Listen to me, listen to me, calm down, calm down, you cannot cajole me,” the Governor said angrily.
Meanwhile, Governor Oborevwori said his administration would set up a committee to look into workers’ demand for salary increase in view of the current hardship in the country.
He commended workers in the state for their support for the emergence of his administration and for the prevailing industrial harmony across the state.
He said his administration had always prioritised the welfare of workers in the state, and promised to look into the issue of workers who were inadvertently omitted in the payment of promotion arrears.
“I have listened attentively to your requests and I have taken note of the same; they are, no doubt, legitimate demands and as a responsible government, I will deliberate with my team on how best to address them within the limits of resources available to us,” the governor said.
Earlier, in a joint address delivered by the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, Comrade Goodluck Ofobruku and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, TUC, Comrade Martin Bolum, the labour leaders lauded the governor for keeping to his campaign promises to workers saying, “We want promise keeper’s politicians because, as workers, we keep records of promises.”
