From George Onyejiuwa,Owerri
Workers of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission( ISOPADEC), on Tuesday staged protest in front of its office in Owerri following decision of the management to slash 80 percent in their salaries.
The aggrived workers who displaced  placards with various inscriptions to condemning the situation the workers demanded an immediate end to what they called an “outrageous” cut in their monthly salaries.
The workers vowed thatv no amount of intimidation would stop them from demanding complete payment of their salaries.
The chairman of the ISOPADEC workers  comrade Chinedu Awuzie, and his Welfare counterpart, Ifeanyi Adakwa,” said that despite these intimidations by the government, ISOPADEC workers will always fight for their right.”
The chairman, Awuzie, disclosed that the slash in their salaries, started in April   2020, when they were hit with the new policy by the state government.
He said “In our first protest, the government arrested 15 of us, including pregnant women and detained them for 35 days in prison custody before court granted them bail.In the second protest, the government sacked 108 of us in a swoop, alleging employment irregularities. But this development will not deter us. We continue to ask for our rights. The first protest was on April 7 2020 and the second one on April 9, 2021.”
It was gathered that even the board members in ISOPADEC and their aides had not received their allowances and salaries since January, 2021.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Commission, Promise Ekeh,  confirmed that ISOPADEC workers salaries witnessed slash, but that the Managing Director, Chief Charles Orie, with the help of the board was engaging the government to finding a lasting solution to the problem.
He said that since the oil workers were not entitled to pension, their demand was justifiable.