Okorocha has no power to slash working days –Imo NLC chairman

IMO State Chairman of the Ni­geria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Austin Chilakpu, has declared that Governor Rochas Okorocha does not have the power to determine working days in the state contrary to what the Nigeria constitution  has already prescribed.

Okorocha had last Friday during an interactive session with Journalists disclosed that the state executive council was considering slashing the working days from the normal five days to three to avail civil servants in the state the op­portunity of engaging in other businesses to earn extra in­come to augment their salaries.

NLC Chairman, in his reac­tion, said the slashing of the constitutionally prescribed working days was beyond the powers of any state govern­ment including that of Imo State.

According to him, the In­ternational Labour Organiza­tion has prescribed 40 working

Hours from Monday to Friday which is what the Nigeria con­stitution has adopted, and as such could not be altered on the whims of the Imo State Gover­nor.

The NLC boss further point­ed out that public holidays rec­ognized by the Federal Govern­ment are listed in the calendar, noting that what the Imo State government was trying to do was to subvert the laws of the  country.

“Claims by Governor Okoro­cha that Imo State pays the high­est salaries in the entire Southeast is not correct because the workers in the state receive the same min­imum wage paid by other states and it is not a gift but as a result of negotiation. There are states that pay more than Imo State. I don’t know why the governor always tries to borrow negative examples,” Chilakpu queried.