By Emeka Mamah
LAGOS—Textile workers in the country have expressed concern over the non-payment of a judgement debt of about N937,073, 346, to some of their members by the Northern Governors’ Forum, NGF, since 2005.
The workers said that the debt arose from the inability of the governors to settle the entitlements of their members in three textile companies who were unilaterally sacked following the closure of Kaduna Textiles Limited, KTL, Arewa Textiles Plc, and Finetex/Nortex Limited between 2003 and 2008.
They pointed out that although the Industrial Arbitration Panel, IAP, and the National Industrial Court, NIC, gave judgements in favour of the workers, the governors had refused to settle the debt.
In a statement signed by the Deputy General Secretary of the workers’ union, Mr Sylvester Chimezie, they siad that KTL owed them about N687, 073,346, since 2003, while Finex/Nortex owed them about N250 million.
According to Chimezie, the debt excluded the workers’ terminal benefits.
’’With respect to KTL, the entitlements of the workers have since been computed and agreed to by both the union and management arising from the judgment of the IAP in September, 2005, following a trade dispute declared by the union against KTL management in January 2003.The union had also obtained judgment in favour of the workers compelling the management to settle the un-paid terminal benefits. Unfortunately, the 19 Northern States are yet to settle the terminal benefits.
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