Some former workers with a construction
company on the Lagos Island, Deux Project, have protested against the
non-payment of their salaries.
They added that the firm terminated their appointments through telephone calls.
The workers ─ Samuel Ajimuda, Murtala
Yahaya, James Philip and Otolurin Taiwo ─ alleged that the company also
invited riot policemen to chase them away to avoid paying them their
entitlements.
They threatened to take legal action against the firm if the situation was not addressed.
Ajimuda, who is married with a child,
said he could no longer feed his family, adding that his daughter had
stopped going to school.
The 31-year-old, who claimed to have
been working for Deux Project for four years, said he was on a salary of
N29, 400 per month.
He said, “I have been working with the
firm for the past four years. We discovered that although the company
was paying its top staff well, it was not paying the junior workers and
things were becoming hard for us.
“When we met with the human resources manager, he told us that the company would pay us in due time.
“But last December, we met with the
chief financial officer that we needed money, even if it was half of our
salary, to celebrate Christmas with our families. He, however, said the
chairman told him that he had no money to pay us.”
He said upon resumption to work in January, they were surprised when the company announced a 50 per cent salary cut.
It was learnt that the company allegedly
told the workers that they might not be paid their arrears due to the
financial condition of the company.
Ajimuda said they were told that the arrears had been written off.
He said they decided to protest last
Wednesday by turning off the company’s lighting system and blocking a
part of the main road.
Taiwo, a carpenter, who had worked for
six years, said some of the management staff appealed to them that they
would receive a bank alert on their phones before that day ran out.
He said, “I was checking my phone for the alert, unfortunately, nothing came throughout that day.
“The following day, we returned to the company and saw riot policemen at the gate. They said we should wait outside.”
The management was said to have later paid the aggrieved workers one month of the arrears.
The company’s human resources manager
was alleged to have called the workers on the telephone to tell them
that their services would no longer be required.
“We told him it was only one month
salary arrear that we were paid, and he said the chairman said when he
had money, maybe he would pay the remaining arrears.
“We only want them to pay our money and entitlements,” Philip said.
Yahaya, who was the storekeeper before
his dismissal, said he was owed only one month arrear because he had
earlier joined another set of workers in 2015 to stage a protest.
He added that workers involved in the protest were sacked, but he was lucky to have been spared at the time.
“We are no longer interested in their job, let them pay us,” he said.
A Lagos-based lawyer, Spurgeon Ataene,
who promised to write the company’s office on behalf of the former
workers, said it was wrong for their appointment to be terminated
verbally.
He said, “These men had been working on
empty stomachs and they decided to stage a peaceful protest to get their
salaries paid, but the company sent a team of policemen against them.
“Instead of paying their full salaries,
the company quickly rushed and paid them just one month of their five to
six months arrears and went ahead to verbally terminate their jobs.
“While we believe that every
organisation has the power to hire and fire, it should be in accordance
with labour laws. They don’t have the right to abuse and maltreat
Nigerian workers. The Federal Government should investigate the
company’s activities and sanction them appropriately.”
When contacted, the company’s Human
Resources Manager, identified only as Tayo, said he was not authorised
to comment. He promised to get in touch with the “right person”, but
later declined to do so.
He said, “The person has also refused to talk and said I should not send his contact.”
Our correspondent, however, sent him a
message on the incident, which he had yet to reply to as of the time of
filing this report.
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