From GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri.
Activities at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri in Imo State,were brought to a halt yesterday,following the protest by e workers over the issuance of queries to union leaders for opposing
the planned privatisation of some units of the
hospital by the management. The aggrieved workers, who wore black attires,
marched round the premises, displaying placards
with different inscriptions such as, ‘We are tired of
intimidation by management’, ‘Withdraw the
queries given to our leaders’, ‘We say no to PPP’
and ‘We need our 2013/2014 promotion arrears’. Addressing newsmen, the Chairman of the Nigerian
Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP),
Ezeugwu Clifford, said the grievances of the
workers included the non-payment of the
2013/2014 promotion arrears, which, he said, had been released to the management of the hospital, issuance of queries to the union leaders over their opposition to the planned lease of some units of the hospital by the management, led by the Medical Director, Dr. Angela Uwakwem. He pointed out that the workers embarked on a
three-day warning strike as part of measures to press home their demands. Another union leader, Dr. Stanley Emegwara, said:
“The summary of our protest is that the
management should pay all the benefits due to the workers and withdraw all queries issued to our union leaders, which were meant to weaken the struggle against the plan to privatise the hospital.” Speaking in the same vein, Nwokedi Samuel, said every unit of the hospital was performing creditably well, descrbing the reason cited by the management for the planned privatisation as untrue.