El-Rufai had on April 6 shocked many when he handed the workers their disengagement letters.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party have condemned the decision of the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to sack 4,000 workers across the 23 local government areas of the state.
El-Rufai had on April 6 shocked many when he handed the workers their disengagement letters.
But reacting to the development, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, national president of the NLC, described the action as “arbitrary and cruel”, and called on the Kaduna State Government to reverse the mass sacking.
The NLC president said the decision of the governor to retire officers that are 50 years old and above; compulsory retirement of officers on Grade Level 14 and above, even when they are less than 50 years violate the fundamental human and trade union rights of Kaduna State workers.
He said: “Others are conversion to casual workers for officers on Grade Level 01 – 06 and the directive that no Local Government in Kaduna State shall have more than 50 staff strength. We understand that right now redundancy letters are being issued to workers caught in the web of this very arbitrary and cruel decision."
Buttressing his point, Wabba said the governor's action conflicted with the provisions of the Labour Act on redundancy.
The NLC also called the attention of the Kaduna State Government to the clause in the redundancy letter issued to affected workers.
In the same vein, the state chapter of the PDP condemned the development, describing such as disheartening.
The State Publicity Secretary of the party, Abraham Alberah Catoh, said the action by the governor is unlawful, callous and smacks of the insensitivity to the plight of the good people of the state.
He said: "It is disheartening that a government which asserts itself as a believer of the rule of law, however, never hesitates to break the same law in pursuit of its unscrupulous policies, based on their whims and caprices.”
Catoh called for a reversal of the mass sacking of all those affected and payment of their entitlements.
Some of the affected workers also urged the governor to reconsider its decision while calling him to pay their entitlements.