ASUU laments Not Paying Eight Months’ Salaries, And Faculty Members Say They Do Not Have The Transport Fares To Return To Work.
The University Teachers Union (ASUU) lamented eight months of unpaid wages and said union members may find it difficult to return to work due to the lack of “transportation costs.”
This was announced by union leader Professor Emmanuel Osodeke on Sunday, October 16, 2022, on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics in addressing issues arising from the suspension of his ASUU strike.
On Friday, October 16, 2022, the ASUU suspended his eight-month-old strike that closed the country’s public universities to demand full implementation of an agreement it signed with the federal government years ago. Remember that
As the strike continued, Education Minister Malam Adam Adam claimed the government had met most of his ASUU’s demands. According to the minister, among the demands put forward was the release of N50 billion for the payment of salary allowances for academic and non-academic and non-academic staff at the university.
However, the ASUU refused to return to work after the government insisted it would not pay union arrears during the strike.
The federal government then dragged the unions to the state labor court, asking the court to order the lecturers back to class. The National Labor Court, then the Court of Appeals, ruled that instructors must return to the classroom during negotiations.
While discussing the reasons why the union suspended the strike, Osodeke said no decision had been made as the issues raised by the lecturers had been fully addressed. “As you may have guessed from our press release, despite the intervention of our spokeswoman (Femi Bahabia Mira) and others, the main reason for our reinstatement is that we comply with the Labor Court’s ruling. The matter has not yet been fully resolved and no contract has been signed.
“We are a law-abiding organization and we are resuming operations because we do not want to break the law. We also hope that the intervention promised by the speaker will resolve this issue in the shortest time possible.” We have not resolved the issue, but we will move forward with this restraining order,” he said. Osodeke accused Labor and Employment Secretary Chris Ngige of taking the issue to court, arguing that “negotiation” is the best way to tackle trade disputes involving academics.
“But one of his ministers, the Secretary of Labor, thinks the best way is to force them to attend classes. Our members teach for the interest of the speakers who do.”
But he said that if federal policy is “no work, no pay,” lecturers may be unmotivated to return to class, saying, “Hungry people are at their best.” cannot be expected,” he claims.
He added that he finds it difficult to pay for transportation to their respective schools as he has not been paid to teach his students for eight months. “In schools today, all faculty and staff live on campus and can walk to the office, but these days many faculty and staff live 20 to 30 kilometers from the office. How do you pay for shipping to work?
“These are issues that the branch has to deal with. We expect the government to pay [eight months of wage backlog] to get these people back to work while other issues are negotiated. I have.”
To avoid this, Osodeke said the government “should pay salaries” for university teachers, adding that they would have to “catch up” on the backlog of classes missed during the strike.
