Nationwide Strike: HURMA Tells Govt, Labour Unions To Be Sincere

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The Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA) has call on both the Federal government and the Organized Labour Union to reconsider certain steps and as well be completely sincere in their actions.

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HURMA in a release issued by its national Executive Director, Comrade Buna Isiak Olaitan, said it do not see the nationwide strike action as anything good for the country at this critical time, rather it would only increase the suffering of the poor masses while the top government officials would be least affected.

The group in the release said: “their private hospitals would be functioning and they can travel out for medical attention, as usual while the poor would be dying due to the non functioning of the State Owns hospitals.

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“It is important that the Organised Labour Union should specially consider facilities like Hospitals, where people’s lives are being daily attended to and Court, in event of any mass action.

“Our members often relate with these offices in their strive to attend to the needs of the indigent. So we can say categorically that any strike action would only make life more difficult and unbearable to many of those in critical and almost neglected conditions”.

HURMA also appealed to the Federal government to listen to the demands of the workers so as to avoid effect of the strike on the nation’s economy.

“We are appealing to government to listen to the demands of workers and try to avoid any strike action because its effect on the economy would be magnanimous base on the loose we suffer.

“It is also important that Nigeria government should open its books and be more transparent for workers to see what is exactly in the purse, so as to be more realistic in their demand.

“This is as a result of the reality we are presently facing in the country where many States can not afford the minimum wage and are owing workers’ salaries.

“As a people’s government that is ready to ensure that lives of workers and the oppressed are well catered for, would be transparent in its policies and dealings to carry all its constituent organs along, including workers. As this would however shape the perception of the workers in making reasonable demands”, Buna stated.

HURMA’s Executive Director equally lamented lack of independent political party, which he said would have make workers’ welfare a priorities.

Comrade Buna laments: “F
Finally, it highly disheartened that the Nigerian workers do not have any independent political party to establish it philosophy. The organised Labour Union should rise to this task so as not to always appeared to be sponsored instrument of destruction by opposition parties, each time they call on workers for action.

“The present Labour Party (LP) is nothing but an instrument made readily available for the highest bidder among the bourgeois capitalist ruling elites.

“The Ondo State game between the PDP and Mimiko with Labour Party is a clear evidence that Nigerian workers are far from a realistic organised body fit to pursue a political agenda for the ultimate liberation of the oppressed workers from all forms of exploitation and oppression”.