Gabriel Dike
Chairman of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of non-academic staff unions of the universities, Mr. Samson Ugwoke, on Sunday insist that members of the three staff unions will go ahead with the proposed nationwide strike from tomorrow.
Ugwoke told Daily Sun that members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association Academic Technologists (NAAT) have been mobilised to down tool from Monday.
The three staff unions last week disclosed that its members would begin a national warning strike between Monday, August 19 and 23 due to the inability of the Federal government to meet their demands.
One of the major issues is the earned allowances. The unions said out of the N23billion released by the government to the four staff unions in the university, the Academic Staff Union of Universities got about 80 percent of the money thus the non-academic shared only 20per cent.
”There is no going back. Our members have been mobilised for the nationwide warning strike. The Federal government has not met our demands. We met two weeks ago with government officials, as at today, we have not heard any positive response from the government.
”Two weeks after our meeting, the Federal government has not fulfilled any promises made. The government has not done anything to make us change our mind about the strike,” Ugwoke stated.
Members of the three staff union on Monday, July 15 embarked on a three protest to drive home their demands, which also include government refusal to recall sacked workers of staff schools and the alleged discriminatory attitude against non-teaching staff.
A branch chairman told Daily Sun on Sunday that the Federal government has failed to release N30 billion earned allowance of non-teaching staff within the period of 2009 to 2016 and that members are not happy about the delay.