By Funmi Komolafe

When politics is at its peak, you begin to see the true colours of those who claim to be representing the interest of workers. Simply put, you begin to see clearly those who are genuine labour leaders and those who are labour traders.

Recent developments in Ekiti State should give any committed unionist cause for concern.

Just before Governor Kayode Fayemi left office after he lost the re-election, employees of the state government embarked on a strike following the inability of the Fayemi Government to pay two months overdue salaries.

We have no record that during this period, labour leaders in Ekiti had any consulation with the the out-going governor on this issue, and neither did they declare a trade dispute.

They simply went on strike. Earlier, there were reports from Fayemi’s government that Governor elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose had instructed banks to dishonour state cheques. There is also no record that the leadership of the state Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) or the Public Sector Joint Negotiating Council ( PSJNC) verified the claims of Dr. Fayemi’s officials. Neither did they consult Mr. Fayose to confirm or deny this.

Calling off of strike

When the National Judicial Council ( NJC) ordered the courts to re-open, it was not presumably because the workers were on strike.

What was most disturbing was the fact that these labour leaders or labour traders as they have proved to be, called off the strike on the day of Mr. Fayose’s inaguration.

The issue is why was the strike called off? Were workers paid their outstanding salaries on the day of the inaguration? Where and when did the union officials   hold any consultation with Mr. Fayose on this issue?   What were the terms of agreement?   Are the labour leaders ignorant of “ Collective Bargaining” procedures ?

Was the strike called off because the labour leaders have earned their pay for calling this strike?

In January 2012 , the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress called off a popular strike against deregulation of the down stream sector of the petroleum industry without any form of collective bargaining. Till today, the NLC has not recovered from the consequences of that action which disconnected it from the civil society organizations.