MINIMUM WAGE: BANKS JOIN STRIKE IN EBONYI

ABAKALIKI- Nineteen days into the industrial action embarked upon by organized labour to protest Ebonyi State Government's refusal to implement the new minimum wage for workers in the state, banks yesterday decided to join the strike.

The action came as a shocker to most customers in the state when they found that no bank was delivering services to its customers, apart from the ATM sections which were over-crowed by desperate customers.

When our correspondent visited some new generation banks on Ogoja road, Abakaliki, customers were seen outside the bank premises exchanging words with security men at the gate after desperate effort to gain entrance into the bank failed.

Speaking to Vanguard on condition of anonymity, a member of National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, NUBIFIE, Ebonyi State chapter, said they decided to embark on strike on the basis of solidarity with labour in the state.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in the state, Comrade Boniface Igweonu, stressed that Labour would relent until the new wage was implemented for all the workers in the state. He added that the New Minimum Wage Act must be obeyed by all employers of labour, including the state government.