The Kwara State Government has never taken the Organized Labour Movement to court on the basis of confrontation or denial of workers right, the Senior Special Assistant on Labour Matters to the state governor, Comrade Abdulkareem Mumini Onagun has said.
The governor’s aide clarified that the only time that the government approached the court on labour related issues, was when it sought for clarification on the payment of #30,000 new minimum wage to Local Government workers in the state.
The one time frontline labour leader , Onagun made the disclosure while responding to reporters’ questions at the ‘SYMBOL OF CHANGE MEDIA ROUNDTABLE’, held in Ilorin, recently.
Comrade Onagun who expressed displeasure over the unguided insinuation being wrongfully spread across the streets by candidates of opposition political parties that the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration had confrontation with workers , said the state government was only been careful not to interfere with local government money.
He said, as at then, the government want to be very clear about required due process and limitations, not to run foul of the law, when implementing the minimum wage across board, covering all categories of the state workers.
According to him, the state governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had already agree to the implementation of the new minimum wage for workers at state level, as at then, but only approached the court to know if the state government can pay or the local government councils should be mandated to pay local government workers.
He however disclosed that the issue was amicably resolved, as seeking for clarification on the issue at the court of law by the state government wasn’t done in bad faith.
He noted that the state government had since implemented the new minimum wage for all categories of workers in the state, including the local government staff.
He said, Mallam AbdulRazaq has been a faithful workers’ friendly governor who ensures the wellbeing and welfare of members of the state workforce and consequently, the Organized Labour Movements in the state were happy with the governor’s disposition.
The Senior Special Assistant, therefore urged the opposition parties to desist from misleading the public on issues they know nothing about, instead they should always seek for honest information.
He urged them to stay clear of politics of filthiness and acrimony that could cause malicious injury to the innocent, since politics is not a do or die affair.
