Tuesday, 15 April 2014

ASUP/COEASU Strike: FG Insists on No Work, No Pay

ASUP/COEASU Strike: FG Insists on

             No Work, No Pay

FG is insisting on “No Work, No Pay” For ASUP/COEASU members who are on strike — The Federal Government has insisted that it would not be blackmailed into stopping the “no work, no pay” policy against striking workers of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Staff Union (COESU).
This is as the Committee of Provosts of Colleges of Education, appealed to the government to intensify efforts to resolve the five months strike by the academic and non academic staff of the CoE.
The Supervising Minister of Education, Mr.  Nyesom Wike, speaking during a courtesy visit of the Provosts to his office in Abuja Friday, said it would be unfair to continue to use taxpayer’s monies to pay the salaries of the striking workers.
“…believe that you can go on strike and your salary would continue. You are happy, collecting your salary when you are not working. We take other taxpayers’ money, and you are smiling to the bank,” he said.
Wike disclosed that he received a letter from ASUP where the union allegedly noted that since the policy did not work with their counterparts in the Universities, it would not work with them.
“Government is serious this period on ‘No work, No pay’. Issue of blackmailing government every time, it will no longer work,” he said and added that the unions could not continue to insist that things must be done their own way.
He also described as blackmail, comments credited to leaders of the striking unions that the government was not making efforts to resolve the strike.
The Minister listed some of the efforts that have already been made by the government to resolve the strike in relation to the demands of the unions.
He lamented that ASUP has refused to allow the government pay the salary arrears for the migration to CONTISS 15 in two instalments.
“There was no time we paid all the monies to ASUU at once,” he said, adding that the monies for the revitalisation of infrastructure in universities did not go into the coffers of ASUU.
“There must be negotiations. We have tried, we have made efforts, and the unions cannot insist things must be done their own way. That is extremism,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Provosts Committee, Dr. Ezoem Ignatius Nwanze said the strike in the CoE have grounded the sector and turned their campuses into graveyards.
He noted that the committee has also made efforts to talk with the unions who have instead accused them  (Provosts) of sabotage and of being government agents.
“We know what you are doing already, but we want you to resolve this issue once and for all,  so that the unions would not feel like second class citizens,” Nwanze said. Source: ThisDay Newspaper

                     

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