“Why We Embarked on Strike” -NAFDAC Workers
Comrade Easy Iswa, the vice Chairman Medical and Health Workers of Nigeria, NAFDAC branch in this exclusive interview with SECURITY MONITOR’s correspondent, Emmanuel Daudu Hulleji in Abuja detailed the grievances of workers in the employ of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC and while they embarked on two weeks industrial strike which they are planning to shelve.
WHY DID YOU GO ON STRIKE?
Our grievances with the management have to do with the welfare of our members and last week Wednesday we sealed our office in Abuja and all 36 states offices. A troop of mobile police men came here and broke our gate so that our Acting DG could have asses to her office without the permission of the union.
WHAT ARE YOUR GRIEVANCES AGAINST THE AGENCY?
Actually our problem here in NAFDAC has to do with promotion skipping, variance in the increase of our salaries. Permit me to start from the salary issue. When we came on board in 2013 as union leaders in this agency, we discovered that national income and wages commission placed NAFDAC in a very wrong salary structure forgetting to note that NAFDAC is not a research institute rather a regulatory body. We operate a salary structure in the Ministry of Health called COHENS. Unfortunately the national income and wages commission moved us to a salary structure they called CORES . We discovered that NAFDAC staff lost money from staff salaries and other benefits. So, upon assumption in office we were told that the union can’t request salary normalization for her members but could pass through the staff employers. The union wrote a letter to the management over our salary issue. Our management played her part but later called for a meeting. In the first meeting, they gave us an option in the salary structure that if we want to go back to COHENS that we used to operate, we are going to lose all our allowances attached to the consolidated salary. As such they advised us to look into it and make a resolution on which way to go. Then after weighing it, we resolved to remain in CORES and to benefit from an allowance known as specific job allowance. The union took a stand that even if we have agreed to remain in cores ,we still plead for a review of the allowance structure because if you view the allowance of national income and wages who happen to be in cores too and also operating the same salary structure with us, but the most painful is, there allowances are much higher than that of NAFDAC though the same structure. If you check somebody in NAFDAC who is collecting allowance of #10,000, salaries and wages is #80,000. So we told them of that we want this issue to be put to rest, then they should review the structure in other to pave room for normalization. But if justification of this issue fails becoming a priority, then how do we enjoy the same allowance? They refused up till this day since 2013. Instead they are busy approving new salary structure for other agencies and parastatals while they are here denying us our right. So we gave them warning last two weeks they did not do anything and the DG pleaded that she will talk to them to make things be on the right track. Upon expiration of the two weeks as law abiding union we concluded not to break any law and followed all the due processes to see that the matter is settled but all to no avail. So the union leadership gave them another ultimatum of two weeks again and yet nothing happened and we still went further to give the management 7days thinking something is going to come out of it but still hopes failed us, and that was why last week Wednesday we mobilized our staff all over the federation to seal up the offices.
CAN YOU PLEASE SHED MORE LIGHT ON THE PROMOTON DISAGREEMENT?
Last year December we wrote a promotion interview in Lagos and up till now the result is not yet released. The union leadership petitioned the management on the reason for the delay in the release of the result and was told that the problem is from the Ministry. It got to a time the Director human resources called for a meeting at the Ministry of Health. There and then they told us that there is a problem in our result and we asked what the problem was. In our structure there is a particular grade we skip that is cores 10,if you are cores 9, you will jump 10 to 11,then there was a problem in 2010 and that problem is not from NAFDAC its between Ministry and JOHENSU. The ministry gave a directive that cores 10 would henceforth not be skipped and all parastatals and agencies under the Ministry of Health. JOHENSU took them to industrial court and JOHENSU worn the case and the go ahead for the skipping was issued, and as members of JOHENSU we joined in the skipping. Now the ministry is telling us that we can’t be skipping again in NAFDAC in that meeting and JOHENSU made it clear to them that NAFDAC is part of them and as such the skipping is a must, but at that time we don’t have assistant Director in our scheme of service. If you, it’s not a skipping because in our scheme of service Assistant chief is 12,chief is 13, we don’t have assistant Director which is 14, and Director 15, we then told them that if you don’t want us to have assistant Director in our scheme of service , there is no big deal but we need some adjustment in our grade levels ,let the chief still remain on 13 then the Assistant director goes to 14,deputy director 15,then Director 16 ,so as to have a flow movement in our promotion. They replied saying it can’t be possible here in our agency and till date justice has not been done on that.
Recently, the Acting DG also recruited a hundred and fifty people to the NAFDAC agency illegally and without going through due process which ought not to be so. These are our reasons for the strike.
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY STAND AGAINST THE PROMOTION PROCESS?
It’s the Ministry of Health.
WAS THERE THREATS TO LIVES AND PROPERTY DURING THE STRIKE?
Actually I can’t deny that because this strike is a peaceful one ,we did not bring gadgets to attack anyone but to our greatest dismay as at Monday we saw a troop of mobile police men surrounding the gate and they succeeded in breaking our key used in locking the gate and went away with it. Though they have successfully done that but our members will not go in there.
HOW ARE YOU SURE THAT THERE IS TOTAL COMPLIANCE TO YOUR STRIKE ORDER ROUND THE FEDERATION ?
We have a union platform to which we communicate with each other and I can categorically tell you that we have more than 99.8% compliance. All our offices in the 36 states are locked except Abuja.
WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING TO CALL OFF THE STRIKE?
It’s a warning strike for two weeks, but if the management fails to respond to our yearnings after two weeks will declare indefinite strike action.
DONT YOU THINK IT IS HARMFUL FOR NIGERIA TO HAVE AN AGENCY LIKE NAFDAC ON STRIKE CONSIDERING THAT THERE MIGHT BE IMPORTATION AND FREE MOVEMENT OF ILLEGAL GOODS,DRUGS INCLUDING HARMFUL AND EXPIRED PRODUCTS TO THE COUNTRY THEREBY PUTTING THE LIVES OF NIGERIANS AT RISK?
That is why we need journalists to help us pressurize the government. NAFDAC is a very important agency to the whole nation. If the nation knows that we are very important to them I believe since 2013,this issue would have been attended to, that this is not the first strike action on the above outlined reasons.
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