Following correspondences from the Secretary General of the Staff Association of the Sierra Leone State Lottery Company (SLSLC) Limited to the Managing Director, the Chairman, Board of Directors, and the Chairman, National Commission for Privatisation (NCP) demanding their four-months salary backlog due them and other conditions of service, the NCP has assured that government will today Tuesday 16th February 2021 pay all outstanding backlog salaries with better conditions of service.
This decision came after SLSLC staff demonstrated yesterday Monday 15th February 2021 expressing how badly they had been treated by government and their supervising agency.
It could be recalled that on 13th November 2020, Lotto staff raised what they described as “utmost concerns” to the Managing Director informing him of an emergency meeting they held on Thursday 12th November 2020 where staff agreed that management should inform their partners, Accord Logistics and Green Lotto, of their five-year outstanding salary increment, payment of a month gross salary as annual leave allowance, and payment of end of service benefits to staff.
Since the said letter was sent to the Managing Director to date, they are yet to receive any reply. That letter was followed by another one on 3rd December 2020 requesting a meeting with management to discuss pertinent issues regarding the concerns raised in their first letter.
Five days later, management replied granting the request to meet on Thursday 10th December 2020, but sources said the meeting was not fruitful.
Immediately after meeting with management on Friday 11th December 2020, the Sierra Leone State Lottery Company Staff Association issued a 21-days memo/ultimatum where they stated, “If our concerns are not addressed, we will withhold our services until they are properly and genuinely addressed.”
Management in their reply stated: “Management wishes to appeal to you that, they need some time to address your issues. The next board meeting will be held on 8th January 2021. At that meeting, your concerns will be channelled to the Chairman and Board of Directors.”
Upon receipt of management’s reply, the staff association on 15th December 2020 in a letter to the Managing Director noted their agreement to accept the appeal to meet with the Chairman and Board of Directors to channel their concerns during the board meeting, as indicated in a letter from the Managing Director.
The staff further informed management to look into their outstanding salaries especially when it was the festive period as “a hungry man is an angry man,” they stated.
As if the negotiations neither materialised nor were their concerns addressed by management, the staff on 11th January 2021 in a letter addressed to the Chairman, Board of Directors, expressed their dissatisfaction with how their concerns were handled.
With no headway to their concerns, on 28th January 2021, they wrote a letter to the Chairman, Board of Directors, demanding for payment of their outstanding salaries including three months for superintendents and supervisors, two months for junior staff.
Because government failed to address their concerns, they took to Siaka Stevens Street yesterday Monday 15th February 2021 demonstrating in demand of their four-month salaries, and requesting for better conditions of service including medical, benefits, increments, among others.
NCP representative Mustapha Sannoh told journalists that they had engaged staff on the non-payment of their four-month salaries, stating, “The critical issue at hand is the non-payment of salaries, but with the intervention of NCP, within the next 24 hours, their four months backlog salaries is going to be paid.” He added, “All other conditions in terms of welfare, are going to be addressed.”
The President, Sierra Leone State Lottery Company Limited Staff Association, Florence Kamara, confirmed that based on engagements with the NCP representative on their concerns, they were told that by 3pm today, all their outstanding four-month salaries will be paid and that all other concerns will as well be addressed.
She said based on that outcome, they decided to listen to the NCP promise, but assured that if their salaries are not paid in full by 3:30pm today, they will continue with their strike action tomorrow, Wednesday 17th February 2021 until all their needs are addressed.
By mohamed.kabba@awokonewspaper.sl