The workers also lamented what they termed the irresponsive attitude of the state government to their plights, despite several petitions written to Mr. Ambode and the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State was buffeted with complaints from workers in the private sector during a May Day rally on Monday when workers complained of hardship and extortion, among other demeaning conditions.
The workers also lamented what they termed the irresponsive attitude of the state government to their plights, despite several petitions written to Mr. Ambode and the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Leaders of the Dangote Truck Officers Association said the group particularly wrote numerous letters to the governor intimating him of a breach of the agreement between the association and Dangote Group of Companies.
They demanded the implementation of the agreement that President of the Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, made with them which include offering trucks that would meet the stipulated 400, 000 mileage as well as payment of the new salary scale.
Dock workers of ENL Terminal also lamented what they called slavery by their employer.
According to their leader, Gerald Lucky, minimum wage fixed for dock workers has not been implemented since 2008.
“We are subjected to hazardous jobs in which many of our workers became sick and some died due to effects of the dangerous chemicals,” Lucky said, adding that about 788 of his colleagues who left the job had not received their entitlements.
Members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) also demanded the implementation of N56,000 minimum wages for all workers in Lagos State.
“The macro and microeconomic policy of the government has further inflicted more hardship on the workers,” the DSM’s representative, Kola Berger, said.
A social activist, Hassan Taiwo, condemned the Federal Government’s attitude to workers’ welfare, saying the people have become more impoverished.
"Two years of the Muhammadu Buhari administration have imposed suffering on the mass of the workers,” Taiwo said.
“Lagos State government is tailoring its programs to make Lagos City for the rich alone, as manifested in the demolition of people’s homes and across the state in recent times,” the activist added, stressing:
“The victimization of poor Lagos residents has increased in the Ambode’s administration, especially as various student activists were dismissed from their schools for demanding better welfare for their colleagues.”
Governor Ambode oversaw the Workers' Day Rally held at the Agege Mini Stadium in a Lagos suburb.
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