Labour Vows To Shutdown Cross River Radio/TV, To Picket Other Govt. Offices On Wednesday

Contrary to expectations that all government offices will open for business tomorrow Wednesday 27 June as directed by Governor Ben Ayade through the Commissioner for Information and Orientation Mrs Rosemary Archibong, the reverse may actually become the case as labour unions in the state have vowed to completely shut down the state owned media house, Cross River Broadcasting Corporation, CRBC.

CRBC has since last week been running skeletal services between the hours of 8am and 12pm for morning shift and 4pm to 8pm afternoon shift, to enable the citizens monitor negotiations between government and labour.

However, an impeccable source in the labour circle confided in our reporter  that it was originally labour that opted to open the station for skeletal services so that both labour and government could have a platform to present their positions.

The source lamented that instead of providing a level ground for both parties, government hijacked the station and started churning out information that does not represent the true position of labour at the moment.

The source stated emphatically that government was telling outright lies that it had met all the demands of labour, wondering why they, (labour) will still be at home if all their demands have been met.

To this end, he said labour has mobilized resources to ensure that as early as 5:30am, the station will be locked and specifically warned staff  to steer clear of the station from tomorrow, unless they going there for "sight seeing".

He said the commissioner of police in the state and the AIG Zone 6 have already been notified, to ensure that there would be  no breach of  law.

Other government offices he said, will also be picketed to drive home their point that government was yet to meet their demands.

It would be recalled that the organized labour in Cross River State last week embarked on an indefinite strike to demand for among other things, arrears of pension, gratuities, imprests, promotions, payment for Perm Secretaries amongst other things.

Nten Ekpang