by Victor Hanson
Workers on strike at the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta organised a protest march in the third week of July, in pursuit of their demand for the payment of promotion arrears from 2013. The workers also commenced an indefinite strike on June 23 on the platform of JOHESU.
The claims of the management were shown to be baseless when the hospital’s JOHESU branch sent a delegation to investigate at the Budget Office in Abuja. The delegation confirmed from the Budget Office’s records that the FMC is not being owed any subvention.
After all attempts at intimidating the workers failed, management tried to infiltrate the unions’ ranks. The protest march was a demonstration of the unity of the workers and their tenacity on the issue. The exposé of corrupt practices by the management is important. It shows that the bosses are not only exploitative, but more often than not are also liars.
Speaking to the press during the protest march, Comrade Julius Achonwa, Chair of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria in the hospital and one of the local JOHESU leaders insisted that “there should be a thorough investigation either by the ICPC or EFCC on this matter”.
While Socialist Worker agrees with the union on this, we should never lose sight of the fact that corruption is an inherent element of capitalism. As we struggle for our hard won rights and improvements in our lives within this corrupt and exploitative system, we must channel our struggles towards overthrowing the capitalist system and building a better society with workers’ power. This is socialism.
