The Joint Labour Unions in Osun on Wednesday blocked the entrance to the State Secretariat in Abere, Osogbo, preventing workers from going into their offices, to enforce the indefinite strike earlier announced on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the union leaders and some of their members arrived at the Secretariat as early as 6 a.m. to ensure that no worker resumed work.

Speaking to newsmen at the gate of the secretariat, the Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Osun, Mr Jacob Adekomi, said the call for a strike was beyond payment of full salaries alone.

Adekomi said, “workers on Levels one to seven had not been promoted since 2012. Those promoted temporarily had not been confirmed and the civil service rules say after two years of appointment, you have to be confirmed.

“Conversion of appointment and promotion advancement had not been given to the workers and these among others are the things we are fighting for,” he said.

He said the workers were told that promotion was a privilege and not a right and that they would use the strike to fight for their right which the government had tagged a privilege.

“Let our people be promoted, confirmed, given advancement and what they need and let pensioners be paid and full salaries paid to workers, these are our demands from the state government,” Adekomi said.

Also, the Osun Trade Union Congress Chairman, Mr Adekola Adebowale, said at the last meeting held with the Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, he told them their demands were privileges and not a right.

He said the unions and workers would now be using the strike to demand for their right which the governor referred to as a privilege.

He said the unions had taken measures to ensure that their action was not hijacked by anybody or group outside the civil service and that the committee on security was taking care of that.

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Labour enforces total strike in Osun States