The organised labour in Ogun State has threatened to embark on strike if the state government did not suspend the newly repealed Pension Reform Law 2020, recently passed by the State House of Assembly.
This was stated by the Chairman, Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) in the state, Comrade Folorunso Olanrewaju, at a press conference in Abeokuta, that workers in the state would commence strike in the next seven days, except the law, is repealed.
He explained that the Pension Reform Law of 2006 and amended 2013 was resolved based on collective bargaining while alleging that the 2020 reform law was hurriedly passed into law without the inputs of major stakeholders.
The labour leader said the passage of the law contravened the International Labour Convention while explaining that the new Pension Reform Law categorised state and local government employees irrespective of grades as subscribers of the scheme with effect from June 30, 2014.
Olanrewaju said this was contrary to the amended Pension Reform Law of 2013 which picked 2025 as effective date for the implementation of the contributory pension scheme.
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“What this development means is that the state and local government have no further liability with their employees once disengaged from the service. Those already in retirement from the said date are to be lumped into the new arrangement and should jettison the hitherto held hope of benefitting gratuities,” he stated.
The JNC chairman disclosed that the state government in the last nine years had not shown a commitment to the scheme, while it had defaulted severally in remitting well over N49bn deducted contributory pension from the state workers to the appropriate Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
He pointed out that the Dapo Abiodun led administration had failed to pay the backlog of leave bonuses from 2015 to 2020, non-remittance of eight months cooperative deductions, failure to implement the new minimum wage.
Organised labour threatens strike
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