UCH Security Guards, Cleaners Protest Non-payment Of Salaries
Security guards and cleaners working at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday protested against non -payment of their salaries ranging between 11 to 13 months.
The protesters had gathered in front of the administrative office of the hospital in the early hours with placards and singing solidarity songs.
Some of the protesters who spoke, pleaded with the government to intervene in the matter following the failure of the hospital management to pay their salaries.
According to them, the hospital authority has said that they may not likely pay them.
Some of their placards read, “Pay us our salary, its our right. No pay No work. Vowed not to resume work until the authority work on their plea,”
Speaking on behalf of the protesting security officers Mr. Ayorinde Sunday who is one of the security men said, “we have been here since 7 00am this morning to protest peacefully over the non -payment of 13 months salaries now, though we are contract staff but we are posted here and we normally do our work here but we are not been paid.
“We usually receive our monthly salary a week after the contract staff received their own but now we are have not been receiving any salaries since last year November when we staged this kind of protest for the first time.
“The College management talked to us through the General Medical Director Prof. Temitope Alonge who said the College cannot continue to pay the salaries of the security and cleaners any longer, but promised to see to the matter and since then, we have been coming to our duty and up till now nothing positive has prompt up.
“We are just appealing to the authority to see to our matter as we are dying of hunger,” Ayorinde said.
Also speaking, Mrs. Bamidele Ajoke, a cleaner said, “I have three children at tertiary institutions and I work here and since 11 months ago now I have not received my salary, it so sad.
“Myself and my colleague used to pack dirty in this premises, all the bloods, pads, and so on are what we do.
“We are here to make the environment clean, we have children and we don’t want them to pass through what we are passing through and that is the reason why we are sending them to school and now that we are not receiving our salaries life has been miserable to us”, she said.
Oluwasegun Sunday, a security guard said “most of us have died of hunger, seriously we use to share gari with ourselves when we are hungry, we don’t have money to pay house rent, not to talk of our medical and our children school fee it is because we have not been receiving our salaries”.