The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), has appealed to government at all levels to make the welfare of workers a priority to cushion the hardship occasioned by the coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Leonard Nkah, Ebonyi NLC Chairman, made the appeal in Abakaliki on Friday in a message to workers in the state.
According to him, prioritising welfare of workers will enhance their living standards and support their families at this period of social and economic stress caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that timely payment of salaries, remunerations and other palliatives would serve as boosts to enable them to observe all precautionary guidelines, regulations and directives that would make them stay safe from the scourge.
He said: “I appeal to the governments at all levels to kindly attend to the worker’s needs as a matter of urgency.
” Let them pay salaries and remunerations with every other package as palliative to the workers and the people to help them observe the guidelines such as the lockdown, sit-at-home directive, use of face masks and regular hand washing.
“As a leader who feels the pulse of the people, I can state unequivocally that workers are hungry and in dire need of food.
“That, it is only the provisions of food and welfare packages and the availability of such will help both the workers and the government achieve a successful fight against the pandemic and win this war threatening our health and life.”
Nkah urged workers to be resilient in the face of the pandemic, appealing to them to partner government and other non-state actors in the fight against the deadly virus.
“All hands must be on deck and no one should feel less concerned as injury to one, is an injury to all.
