Workers shuts down activities in CAC …demand 9% salary arrears.

Business activities at the Headquarters of Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, in Abuja was grinded to a halt yesterday following an indefinite strike embarked upon by the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), demanding for immediate refund of the nine percent salary cut of Non-Executive staff of the Commission.

The Daily Times gathered that as early as 6am, union leaders converged at the Commissions headquarters, locked the entrance gates and placed posters with inscriptions like “We demand nine percent salary arrears”, “Expenditure must be Prioritized”, “Staff not Slaves” among others and chanting solidarity songs.

According to a document made available to the press, a tripartite agreement signed by D. S. Kigbu Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment; Kunle Omowole Ag. Registrar General, CPC, and P.E. Agbonkonkon General Secretary as well as Bivan Stephen Ag. Chairman AUPCTRE, CAC branch, signed in 2013 there was a resolution that “Non-Executive staff of the Commission shall be paid an enhanced bonus of 108.32 percent from the agreed period. 50 percent palliative to be paid on or before the 11th day of October 2013 while the portion of the enhanced bonus shall be paid monthly.

“That a Technical Committee on disparity in salary structure between the Executive and Non-Executive staff of the Commission shall be set up to work out modalities for bridging the wide gap in the salary structure” the document stated.

Addressing the press, the Chairman AUPTRE, Comrade Ibrahim Kirfi said that former President Goodluck Jonathan announced an increase in emoluments of Executive staff by 15 percent while those of Non-Executive staff was also increased by 35 percent, saying that while the Executive Staff had continued to enjoy their new emolument, the Non-Executive staff emolument was cut by 9 percent in 2014.

Kirfi said that for the strike to discontinue, the CAC Management must “Implement the tripartite agreement especially with regards to the huge salary disparity between the Executive and Non-Executive Staff.

“Payment of arrears of nine percent salary increase from January 2014. Payment of Staff Housing. Suspension of all foreign trips by the executive until staff entitlements are settled. Design a clear road map for revenue generation and Commission’s future sustainability. Prioritizing Commission’s expenditure on critical needs” Kirfi said.

However, the Deputy Director Public Affairs CAC Godfrey Ikeh in his reaction said that the demands of the union is already being looked into as several other agencies of government are involved in the negotiations.

“The Corporate Affairs Commission is one of the few government Agencies that does not owe salaries. We know the present situation in the country but the commission manages its resources efficiently. No staff is being owed salaries, that will tell you how efficient we manage our resources. So the issue of mismanagement is not even an issue at all because nobody has been owed any salary.

“These issues are all issues of emoluments. As you are all aware, the CAC does not fix salaries, we all know the agency of government that fixes salaries. We all know that any issue that concerns staff welfare, the Commission it takes it as its own priority because it believes that the staff is its greatest asset.

On the allegation that the management is foot dragging on training its personnel on server and software management so that the retainership deal with the software support company will be reduced and money saved for the commission he said:

“Even the issue that concerns training and other actions that require staff, the commission has fulfilled all of them, so the commission is trying its best.

“Even this strike, the commission has been negotiation with the union; we have been talking with them even yesterday evening we were still meeting. We are still talking.

“These issues do not rest with the commission alone. It rests with the authorities that have to do with salary. We shall continue to dialogue with the Commission concerned with salary and wages. The commission has been making representations and we have been following up.

On the issue of poor quality of service delivery and frustrating server response, he said:

“We don’t have any issue on service delivery at this moment. At this point in time our service the Server, everything is working perfectly” Ikeh maintained.

Recall that CAC staff had around February this year staged a three day warning strike on the same issue which was called off after the intervention of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.