The academic staff of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu,
have defiled the ongoing nationwide strike declared by the Academic
Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) on Wednesday.
ASUP had declared
to commence a comprehensive and indefinite strike from Dec. 12 in all
the nation’s polytechnics to compel the government to meet their
demands.
Mr Usman Dutse, the National President of the union, had
said that the strike became necessary following the failure of the
Federal Government to implement the 2009 and 2017 agreements reached
with the union.
Mr Salami Olugbenga, the embattled Vice-Chairman,
ASUP, LASPOTHECH chapter, told newsmen in Lagos that they could not
join the strike because there was no organ of the union on ground in the
polytechnic since December 2017.
Olugbenga said this was as a
result of an internal crisis between the union and the polytechnic’s
management which had yet to be resolved by the court.
“We are not on strike because we have some internal wranglings with the management sometime last year which is still in court.
“We can’t join the strike because there is no organ of the union on ground for now,” he said.
The
vice-chairman said the management had also stopped the check-off dues
of the union members since Dec. 2017 and that there was nothing the
members could do about it even though they were unsatisfied.
“Our
members at some point were looking up to ASUP National to wade into the
matter and resolve it, unfortunately, the national body is seriously
disappointing.
“The national came to LASPOTECH at some point and
met the Rector, maybe because the rector was so adamant and the case was
already in court, they felt there was nothing they could do about it,”
he said.
Olugbenga said the polytechnic had attempted to withdrew
the case but the union executives knowing that this would enable the
management to clamp down heavily on some of them, refused and filed a
counter claim.
He said the management had also demanded that the
court grant them right to demigrate the union members from CONTISS 15
Salary Structure as agreed between ASUP and Federal Government in 2009.
According
to him, the management claimed that the ASUP, LASPOTHECH chapter,
forced it into signing the agreement and that was why they could not pay
the arrears.
The unionist said the counter claim filed by the
union’s embattled executives enabled the court to order that all issues
between the union and the management return to status quo and be
implemented as such until the court judgement.
“Since then, all
issues remained as before to avoid contempt of the court, our salary is
paid in line with CONTISS 15 but the arrears since 2009 remain on paid.
“The union had appeared again in court on Dec. 6, but unfortunately the court could not sit,” he said.
Reacting, The Polytechnic Spokesman, Mr Olarewaju Kuye, also confirmed that the institution was not on strike.
Kuye
said that the issues between the union and the polytechnic management
were still in court and so they await the court decision.
He, however, dismissed the claim that the union check-off due was indiscriminately stopped.
Kuye
explained that the management had called on the unions to renew the
mandate of their members last year to enable it to continue to deduct
the dues of their members.
Source:- Politicsngr
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