•Reintroduces “half-salary” to cut cost
•Labour plans showdown

By Adekunle Alao

It appears the promise of the Osun State Govt not to sack workers in its employment would no longer be kept as the Governor Ademola Adeleke led government has reportedly begun to show some of the workers the way home.

This publication also learnt that the state government has re-introduced the modulated salary regime, also known as half-salary, to save cost as the monthly wage bill has become too burdensome for the government to bear, given the recent revenue shortfall it faces.

“Half-salary” came into labour lexicon when the Administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola owed a section of state workers part of their salary for 30 months.

However, the government of ex-Governor Gboyega Oyetola abolished the abberant system and installed a full salary regime that lasted the 48 months he spent in the saddle.

Some of the civil servants who spoke with this reporter confirmed that they experienced deductions of N3,000 to N10,000 in their June 2023 salary and government has not communicated to them the reason for such strange deductions, particularly at this period when their salary could not sustain them due to the harsh economy in the country. It was also confirmed that workers, whose employments were terminated were those on “Leave of Absence” to serve in the previous government in the state.

The affected workers, it was learnt, were not served any formal letter of disengagement, as it is the standard in the civil service. They were only told their service was no longer needed when they showed up for staff audit and found out they were conspicuously missing on the shortlisted names for interview.

Meanwhile, workers under the aegis of Osun Workers Union ( OWU) have expressed their displeasure over the inhuman treatments being meted out to them by the government which they contributed immensely for its emergence, threatening to down tools to press home their demands if the government remains unyielding. The union in a press statement issued on Wednesday by their Organising Secretary, Comrade Gabriel Adeoye, said Governor Adeleke had betrayed their trust by singular action of his government to punish them with their salary. According to Adeoye, “The action was disrespectful and illegal. No serious and sincere government would deduct workers salary without duly informing them. Let’s agree the government was facing financial difficulties that would make it contemplate salary deduction, were we not supposed to be carried along about their plan? When Aregbesola was about to start the half-salary for us in 2015, he invited us and explained things to us. He didn’t activate the salary amputation through the backdoor as this government is currently doing.”

In the same breath, Adeoye frowned at the decision of the government to sack some of the workers who were duly approved for leave of absence.

“This action, again, is a sad reality of what the civil service has become under this Adminstration where politicians driving the government process flout establishment rules with reckless abandon in order to punish those they don’t like their faces. Governor Adeleke shouldn’t set an unfortunate precedent in the state by his politically motivated decision. The sacked workers are Osun citizens before any other thing and didn’t break any service rules when they were asked to serve the state in another capacity by the previous govt. He should rescind the sack to avoid labour disputes,” Adeoye counselled Adeleke, the state governor.