Labour unions began a five-day warning strike in Kaduna State on Monday.
NLC National President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said at the flag-off of the action that it would run its full course unless the state government attended to the workers grievances.
He said the national leadership of the NLC had been informed that the grievances included the sacking of 7,000 workers from local governments in the state.
“We are also aware that in the Primary Health Care Development Agency, 1,700 workers were sacked.
“All these are happening in the face of exorbitant increment in tuition fees , high cost of living and other uncalled for actions in ministries and agencies in the state,’’ he said.
“Fuel stations, hospitals, banks, the railway, and airport, among others have been closed because we must take our destiny in our hands if the situation in Kaduna State and in Nigeria at large cannot change.
“We cannot accept the bitter pills; we are here in Kaduna today because the labour law in Nigeria says before you can declare redundancy, labour shall be consulted and we were never consulted.
The governor said he has consulted the National Union of Local Government Employees, but the union is here with us; we want to tell the world that a lot of information from government is false.
We have the right to protect peacefully without being intimidated or harassed.
“The governor should go after criminals, especially kidnappers and bandits terrorising the state and not workers who are earning their legitimate wages,’’ Wabba added.
A commissioner in Kaduna State who featured on a national television programme on Monday said the figure of sacked workers the NLC was quoting was incorrect.
The commissioner also said majority of retrenched workers did not have requisite qualifications to hold office and were given ample notice to upgrade their qualifications.
He said also that many of them had been trained for other jobs preparatory to their disengagement from public service.
Part of the protest was a planned march by leaders and unionists from the NLC’s office, through the streets of Kaduna to the state’s House of Assembly.
NAN