The industrial action embarked upon by the Nigerian Union of Railway Workers (NURW) and the Senior Staff Association (SSA) NRC Branch has crippled cargo evacuation and train services in the country.
This is even as the strike action enters day two.
Many passengers are stranded along the Lagos-Ibadan, Kaduna-Abuja and Warri-Itakpe routes while cargo evacuation was also affected.
The railway terminus was deserted as workers abandoned their duty posts. The protesting railway workers turned back passengers who had come to the station to board the 8 am Lagos to Ibadan train.
Many passengers were seen milling around as tickets, luggage, and passenger lounge areas were under lock and key.
Cargoes that were supposed to be evacuated by train were also affected.
Secretary-General of the NURW, Comrade Segun Esan expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the strike action.
“The strike has been largely successful. All passenger and cargo train services have been shut down nationwide. However, it’s just a three-day warning strike. After the three days, if the government refuses to listen to our plight and address our welfare issues, railway workers will go on indefinite strike action.”
Recall that railway workers in the country commenced a three-day warning strike on Thursday to protest poor welfare.
In Abuja, the nation’s capital, workers in Idu Train Terminal locked the station and displayed various placards in protest.
At the Mobolaji Johnson Train Station in Ebute-Metta in Lagos, aggrieved workers were also seen with placards, lamenting poor welfare and poor salary.
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Train service at the Professor Wole Soyinka railway station in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital was also paralysed because of the industrial action.
According to the aggrieved workers, railway staff are the most poorly paid among all the parastatals in the Ministry of Transportation.
This was confirmed by the President-General, Nigerian Union of Railway Workers (NURW), Innocent Ajiji; “It will interest you to know that our minimum wage is N30,000, so when you deduct contributory housing scheme, pension, union dues and tax, the salary drops down to N26,000”.
This was buttressed by Esan, he lamented that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi had not taken the welfare of railway workers seriously.
“In six years of his tenure as minister, he has only met us twice. The first time was a charade as the minister tried to instigate the workers against the union. The second time, which came up as an effort to avert the three-day warning strike, the minister left the meeting without reaching any reasonable conclusion with us.
Imagine a level seven officer of the NRC earning N30,000 as salary when his colleagues in the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) earn close to or even above a million naira.
How does the government expect us to survive with such starving wages? Our members pay children school fees, house rent, feed their families and clothe them all from such money. In this economic situation of the country, how does the government expect us to survive?
We have tried several times to meet with him (Minister of Transportation) on welfare issues of railway workers, but he has proven over time not to take the plight of railway workers seriously. At the last meeting with the minister, he left us in the meeting without anything being resolved.
The striking workers also vowed not to suspend the strike unless something concrete is reached as regards workers welfare.
