The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), in FCT, has called on the FCT Administration to identify and recommend that donations by private sectors be made dire tky to isolation centres.
The union bodies made the call in a communiqué on Friday, signed by Comrade Abubakar Yaqub and Comrade Ossai Ilome at the end of a one day situation room meeting in Abuja.
The communiqué revealed that recommendations of the meeting pointed that:
1. Road transport union should demonstrate goodwill to government existing protocols by identifying and sanctioning members flouting the existing guidelines in the number of passengers carried in intrastate movement.
2. Decentralised committee on monitoring of members’ compliance on exiting protocols to Areas Councils.
3. A call for state meeting to bring this decision to all members as it was discovered that the delivery of donated hygienic items/materials were not been conducted in an effective manner, and therefore, recommended as follows;Testing, treating & tracing.
4. That further engagement with the NLC headquarters should be conducted to solicit broader media campaign for direct donations to relevant stakeholders/department/facilities.
5. To pursue the development of standard operating manual on various procedures to treatment and evacuation of corvid-19 patients.
6. That unions should endeavour to pro activ rely engage with employers without waiting for untoward action to happen first.
7. That NUATE national in collaboration with NLC headquarter would be engaged to pursue a stimulus package for the aviation industry were necessary.
However, the communiqué further said observations at the meeting suggested that Members of the situation meeting representing various stakeholders briefed as follows:
1. The representative of NUATE observed that payment of salaries; sack of employees by the employers; absence of protocol for resumption and hygiene supplies are still posing challenges.
2. The representative of the NUJ listed payment of salaries; security harassment of journalists; supply of hygiene items to media houses as well as hazard allowance were the major challenges facing the sector.
3. On the part of Medical and Health Workers, the union emphasised the lack of PPE supply; disproportionate holding centres; non-existence of FCT owned testing centres; death of health workers outside isolation centres as well as hazard allowance and reduction of tax/insurance as promised is still the problems faced by health officials.
4. LABOUR BUSINESS SCHOOL – emphasised the apparent loss of income by businesses and called for the formulation of strategic employers’ engagement protocol to be deployed by union executives.
5. JOHESU – the representative of joint health workers’ union pointed out the absence of insurance cover for health officials, inadequate community sensitisation; absence of hazard allowance; inadequate primary health care centres as well as lack of transportation vehicles for health officials to their workplaces
