Why railway workers are threatening to resume suspended strike-NUR

UFOMBA UZUEGBU

Labour under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) has served a notice of intention to return to the trenches and resume its suspended strike to press for improved welfare and conditions of service for workers.

The President-General of the union, Comrade Innocent Luca Ajiji who stated these while fielding questions from newsmen in Lagos, warned that the union would embark on a long-drawn strike if the Federal Government decides to private the railways.

It will be recalled that the union had in 2021, embarked on a three-day warning strike over alleged poor welfare and conditions of service.

Ajiji said. “We have made several agitations for review of salariers and allowances. In 2021, we went on three days of industrial action which lasted for two days after which the then Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi intervened and we suspended the strike. He went into action and secured an approval of 95 percent salary increase for railway workers, but as we speak now, the approval is yet to be implemented.

“When you take the pay slip of a Grade Level 5 worker in the railway, they collect about N33,000, by the time you deduct necessary taxes, the salary drops to N26,000. That is what railway workers have been collecting till date. We have been to the National Assembly, Salaries and Wages Commission, as well as Budget and National Planning. All of them were asking for one document or the other, which we have provided, yet no salary increase has been effected. While we are hoping that something will be done soon, we may have to go back to the strike we suspended in 2021. That is our position”.

Continuing the NUR boss also  said. “There are lots of allowances spelt our in our Conditions of Service that workers are supposed to benefit from, but railway management are not paying, because those allowance are supposed to be paid based on the revenue generated. It is very obvious that we are making money.

“What we are currently generating is not even enough to fuel the locomotives because of the high cost of diesel. That has made it impossible for railway management to pay the allowance that were spelt out in the standard conditions of service”.

He said the union had demanded for a review as the last time a review was carried out was in 1982, stressing that the law says it should be reviewed after every five years.

The railway management had set up a committee, which the union was involved and their report has been sent to the Ministry of Transport for approval, but it is yet to be addressed.

Ajiji said it was part of what led the union to industrial action in 2021. He decried the incessant attacks and accident on the railway lines, stressing that this was pulling the union backward.

He said: “That is a very strong blow on us, because when the Abuja – Kaduna train service was attacked in April last year, it made passenger service patronage, both in Lagos and Warri-Itakpe line, drop drastically. That further brought down our revenue generation. Before the attack, we were generating close to N500 million monthly but now, we can’t even generate up to N50 million monthly