The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has threatened to commence strike in federal universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education in the country on resumption from lockdown.
General Secretary of the union Comrade Peters Adeyemi told journalists in Abuja Monday that NASU decision to go on strike was due to short-payment of its members’ salaries since February 2020.
Already, the union had filled a Trade Dispute Act CAP 432, Trade Disputes (Essential Services) Act, CAP 433 law of the federation of Nigeria 1990 and Trade disputes (Amendment) Decree No 47 of 1992 otherwise called Form TD/3 against the Accountant General of the Federation.
In its filled form TD/3, titled ‘notification of trade dispute, inter and intra – union disputes by employers/workers organisation, etc., NASU raised issues in dispute to include non-payment of salaries to some staff, short payment salaries to some staff, failure to pay approved allowances as contained in the FGN/NASU year 2009 agreement, non-deduction of check-off dues, and non-deduction of cooperative and other deductions of its members in the federal universities and inter-university centres, federal polytechnics and federal colleges of education.
NASU also stated that despite steps taken so far to have a meeting of NASU leadership with the Director, IPPIS on 21st January 2020 and another with the same director on the 4th of February 2020, all did not yield desired result.
In a letter to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, declaring a trade dispute, Adeyemi, said despite the assurances given by Ngige, the crisis has continued to linger.
“Regrettably, despite your assurances via a telephone discussion sometimes in early April, 2020, the officials of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) have refused to effect appropriate corrections of all the anomalies observed by NASU members in the Federal Universities and Intra-University Centres, Federal Polytechnics and Federal Colleges of Education up to this current moment, i.e salaries paid to our members in February, March and April, 2020.
“It is unfortunate that IPPIS has only betrayed the leadership of NASU by deceiving us into accepting that the IPPIS platform will take on board all the peculiarities affecting our members and that there will be no problem if we key into the platform. Now we know better. IPPIS promise of doing a three-month experiment has come our very disastrously and we are unable to allow this defective and deficient process to continue,” it said.
NASU subsequently gave notice of strike action, saying having fulfilled all the statutory requirements, it placed all its members in the Federal Universities and Intra-University Centres, Federal Polytechnics and Federal Colleges of Education on a 14-day warning strike effective the date of the resumption of work in all the mentioned institutions.
It added that thereafter, an indefinite strike will follow if positive action was not taken to remedy the situation.
Conveying the strike notice to its members during the weekend through a letter with reference number NASU/CD/307/209, NASU told its members that the 14-day warning strike would be used to protest the refusal of IPPIS to react positively to issues that affect the correct payment of its members’ salaries and other errors identified which have been placed before the IPPIS for correction.
