Demand payment of 8months wages
by Nnamdi Ikeagu
Non-payment of salaries has not been limited to the public sector. And workers affected by this wicked development in the private sector are also fighting back. This Day newspapers, was shut down on June 18, by members of the National Union of Print, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW), over the non-payment of salaries and allowances for eight months.
The company owned by Nduka Obaigbena is notorious for owing workers’ salaries. NUPPPPROW activists shut down the workplace earlier last year over the same grievances. Five months ago, Mr Obiagbena promised to pay the owed salaries, but failed to do this.
In its attempt to curb the impact of strikes, management passed a policy barring senior staff from going on strike. Thus, it was confident that strikes by NUPPPPROW will not keep This Day off the newsstands.
This is a violation of the labour rights of journalists, most of whom are senior staff in the editorial department and members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). The union should challenge this policy and stop slave labour in This Day.
