The on-going rift between the management and staff of the Delta state owned construction outfit, Direct Labour Agency (DLA) seems to be nearing an end, following the intervention of various leadership of Labour in the state, in a bid to halt the lingering crisis.

The leaderships of Labour have therefore, at a joint resolution urged the state Government to take a definite action on the crisis to avoid a total breakdown of industrial relations in Delta State.

It however, suspended the current strike action by workers in DLA, since they downed tools due to alleged inexperienced and ineffective handling of the agency’s activities by the Director General, Emmanuel Igbini.

When Blank NEWS Online visited the DLA premises in Asaba, workers were seen going about their normal duties but the serene office environment had remained with signs of compressed indignation. Attempts to see the DG Igbini was fruitless since some staff who were confronted on the whereabouts of the DG simply moved on without making a statement.

Recall that members of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and staff of DLA have been in contention with Igbini’s led management over deliberate refusal to implement series of agreements reached with stakeholders, union and representatives of the state government for a healthy industrial peace and harmony in the agency.

Although Blank NEWS Online sources close to the Director General claim that Igbini has been meeting with some aggrieved top government officials to save his job, another source says that the embattled DLA boss is “unrepentant”, alleging that he has vowed not to yield to the terms of Labour in restoring industrial peace.

This is just as a grapevine source has disclosed to Blank NEWS Online that “Labour is very aware of Igbini’s diversionary tactics. The leaderships of Labour in their wisdom have stepped in and would not condone any disappointment in their bid to resolve the lingering industrial crisis.”

Labour, according to an insider source, have scheduled another joint meeting for Monday, August 19, 2013 for a definite action plan, even as DLA workers insist on Igbini’s sack by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan over alleged financial impropriety and high-handedness.

Meanwhile, the joint five-point Communique issued by Labour on Monday, August 12, 2013, as a result of the lingering crisis in Delta State Direct Labour Agency (DLA) was signed by the various labour leadership in the state.

They include Comrade S.E.O. Diatake, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN); Comrade Fidel Emeni, Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE); Comrade Mike Arinze, Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Comrade William Akporeha, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The leadership of Labour in the state which met on Monday, August 12, 2013 resolved as follows:

I. That the Memorandum of Understanding reached in the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour and Industrial Relations on 15th April, 2013 still stands.

II. That the purported dissolution of the DLA unit of AUPCTRE by the management of DLA is null and void.

III. That all acts of victimization such as demotion, transfer, queries, etc arising from the crisis that was resolved on 15th April, 2013 are null and void.

IV. Accordingly and having regard to the intervention by the state Government represented by Comrade Mike Okeme, Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour and Industrial Relations, the current strike action by workers in DLA is hereby suspended.

V. That the state Government is hereby requested as a matter of urgency to take a definite action to resolve the industrial relations crisis in DLA once and for all to avoid a total breakdown of industrial peace and harmony in DLA and in Delta State in general.