Officials of the Trade Union Congress, Cross River State chapter, have denied receiving bribe from the state government to back out of the strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress scheduled to begin on Monday.
The state branch of the NLC through its chairman, Benedict Ukpepi, had declared an indefinite strike from Monday over unpaid gratuities, pensions, among other issues after the expiration of an ultimatum issued to the government.
But the TUC branch in the state, as well as other affiliate unions, had said they won’t join the industrial action, noting that the timing – being amid the Covid-19 pandemic – was wrong.
Speaking at a media briefing on Saturday, the State Secretary of the union, Ken Bassey, said, “Nobody has collected a dime from the government. And the TUC is not the mouthpiece of the government as is being insinuated.”
“As a labour centre, we and our members are aware of the sacrifices government is making to ensure prompt payment of salaries and we commend the government for that. We do not think or agree that crises or threats of crises will solve any problem. We dissociate ourselves and our affiliates from the ultimatum,” the union had noted in an earlier statement.
