SCHOOLS,LOCAL GOVT SECRETARIATS ETC,ARE UNDER LOCK & KEYS IN PLATEAU STATE,AS LABOUR UNION EMBARK ON STRIKE.

                                      The Nigerian Labour Congress {NLC} Plateau Chapter on monday declared the beginning of the strike from 12:00 midnight,to press home demand for payments of backlog of salary arrears,amongst others.NAN reports that in Pankshin,Mangu,Kanke councils,secretariats and public primary and secondary schools are under lock and keys.As early as 7:00am the NLC,NUT,and NULGE leaders were at the schools and council secretariats and demanded from the security men all the keys to the offices and subsequently locked the gates.Some students who were not aware of the development went to schools only to be stopped and sent back home,while boarding students were seen packing their luggage and heading home.Principal officers of the councils,including chairmen,secretaries and directors,were not allowed access into the secretariats by the Union leaders.Mr Pankyers Benwuk,Pankshin NULGE chairman,told NAN that the strike was indefinite and would only be called off if the state government would meet their demands.He said ''This government seems not to have the interest of it's workers at heart by the way and manner it is treating us.It seems the government is only interested in using us for politics and nothing else.If not for over four or six months,some workers were working without receiving their salaries.The implementation of the minimum wage at the councils,unending bi-metric exercise for staff and non payment of salaries were the main crux of the strike.He called on his co-workers to be patient and remain calm as they observed the strike''.Reacting to the situation,the state commissioner for information,Mr Abubakar Badu,said ''The financial disposition of government is not peculiar to Plateau.We are affected by the global recession which has resulted to fall in oil price and affected statutory allocation''.He appealed to the workers to bear with the government and reconsider their action by calling off the strike in the interest of the state.