In this interview, President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Comrade Usman Dutse, speaks with MOSES JOHN on suffering his members are facing as a result of shortfall in payment of salaries.
What is update on ASUP face-off with government?
Apart from the outstanding challenges we have with government, there are new developments that cropped up last year. That is the issue of shortfall in personnel.
From January 2016, we started observing shortfall in our personnel this led to our members collecting fraction of their salaries with the promises that it would be ratified.
They told us by January this year the matter would be resolve, but it has not changed. But in February we were told the situation was getting worst because the quantum of the cut had increase significantly and it created more hardship and suffering for our members.
So, we want to use this medium to tell government that we have been patient enough.
We have been suffering and smiling for too long. And we also want to warn that if this issue continues, we cannot guarantee industrial harmony in the Polytechnic sub sector of the education system.
So, government should keep to their word by fulfilling their promises. This is our right, we have worked for it. Anytime we start agitation they will talk about ‘no work, no pay’. So, we want to assure them that if they continue cutting our salaries, we too will cut our services because for every service we render, we deserve to be compensated.
We are all aware the economic hardship in the country is biting and so if you get less than what you used to receive, the situation would be worst for you.
So, sincerely we want to tell government to give us what we deserve and make sure that our members do not suffer any longer because we are not going to allow that to continue. We are going to take action that will protect and defend the interest of our members and system.
Recently you suspended a one week warning strike, has the issues been resolve?
When we went on the warning strike, government invited us and made certain promises as regards our struggle. Of course, that convinced us not to resume that suspended long strike we embarked on in 2012.
They even showed us some of the mechanism they had employed to resolve this issue, particularly the issue of shortfall. We were assured that it is going to be resolved immediately and till now it continues to linger.
So, that is why we are saying government should fulfil their promises. They should be men of honour and keep to their words so that we don’t go back to the trenches because if this issue persists we will be left with no option than to down tools.
What is the percentage of salary cut?
In January 2016, we discovered that about 66 per cent was cut from our personnel salary, but now there is no consistency and there is no uniformity in the cut. You will see some institution have six per cent, some eight per cent while some 15 or 30 per cent.
So, our members were left with collecting fraction of their salaries, there is no uniformity in what each institution is collecting.
Has the backlog of the shortfall in 2016 been paid?
They told us if approval is made from the virement that they are going to pay, one or two schools have received but majority are yet to get theirs. So, as far as I am concerned nothing has been done in that direction because if they are talking about virement it has been approved since. So, they should stop giving excuses. The records are with them, they should settle this matter because we cannot suffer any longer as government has had enough time to have resolved the matter.
What is the update on the re-negotiation of the 2009 agreements with your union?
They told us that a committee is in place, but there is no evidence that the committee is working.
