The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has again criticised the Federal Government over the non-implementation of the union’s demands.
ASUU has been at loggerheads with the government over its decision to pay the union’s members half of their salaries after it ended its eight-month strike.
The government had insisted that the union members would not be paid for the period they were on strike, citing its “no work, no pay” policy.
But members of the union had condemned the move and threatened to adopt a “no pay, no work” policy, if the withheld salaries are not paid.
The union’s national executive council (NEC) held a two-day meeting at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) in Cross River State to review the development and other issues affecting its members.
In a statement issued after the meeting on Monday, ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, faulted the Federal Government’s policies on education, including the proposed introduction of education loans.
“…ASUU calls on Nigerians of goodwill to, in the interest of our students and the nation, prevail on the Nigerian government to urgently address all outstanding issues contained in the December 2020 FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action.
“NEC rejects with vehemence, the current attempts to impose master-slave treatment as a mechanism for relating with Nigerian scholars under whatever guise by the ruling class. ASUU members are citizens, not slaves.
“Finally, NEC appreciates the resilience of our members and their families. Their understanding and perseverance, in the face of hardship and provocation occasioned by the government’s intransigence and insensitivity shall be rewarded by posterity,” the statement said.
Also, the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has resolved to sue the Federal Government over the withheld salaries of its members.
In a statement yesterday by its President, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu; National Secretary, Dr. Henri Oripeloye; and National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ernest Nwoke, CONUA said its members expected the Federal Government to release the withheld salaries along with the November salary.
The statement reads: “The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has expressed disappointment with the Federal Government, especially the Ministry of Labour and Employment, over the non-payment of its members’ withheld salaries, even when the government knew that the union did not call for strike action and its members were not involved in the strike action that lasted eight months and which shut down the university system nationwide.
“CONUA formally made its non-involvement in the strike known to the Federal Government in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment in April 2022. In the letter, we made it clear that because CONUA constituted a separate and independent union in the university system; our members did not call for any strike.”
“This was followed by a press conference in Abuja on August 19, 2022 at which it was categorically stated that CONUA was not part of any ongoing strike, and that the ‘No Work, No Pay’ principle ought not to apply to members of the union.
“CONUA’s expectation is that due to the express and categorical declaration, the government would seamlessly release our members’ outstanding salaries when it resumed the payment of salaries to all university staff in October 2022. But to our dismay, CONUA members were also paid pro-rata salaries in complete disregard to the fact that we were indeed shut out of duties by the strike.
“Subsequently, we wrote to the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, reminding them that it was an error to lump our members with those that declared and embarked on strike action. It was yet another shock for the outstanding backlog of salaries not to have been paid to our members along with the November 2022 salary.
“The non-payment of our withheld salaries contravenes Section 43 (1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8, which states that ‘where any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remunerations for the period of the lock-out and the period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the workers being rights dependent on the continuity of period of employment.’ This provision is consistent with global best practices.
“From the foregoing and as a law-abiding union that pledged to do things differently, we have resolved to seek legal redress of the illegal withholding of our legitimate salaries by taking the matter to court in consonance with the rights enshrined in our laws.”
