The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union, on Monday, declared a seven-day warning strike to protest their withheld four months salary.
The unions declared the warning strike on Monday in Abuja, following a meeting of their joint action committee in Akure, Ondo State last Thursday and Friday.
The SSANU National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, who read the communiqué of the meeting to journalists, said the action became necessary as the Federal Government had refused to pay them the four months salary withheld as a result of their nationwide strike in 2022.
The Federal Government recently released the withheld four months salary to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which was also on strike in 2022, but ignored SSANU and NASU.
On February 13, 2024, SSANU and NASU unions wrote protest letters to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, over the exclusion of the non-teaching staff from the payment of outstanding four months’ salaries.
The unions, in their communique, said, “While SSANU is not averse to the payment of the withheld salary to our sister union, ASUU, it however, views this action as a clear violation and breach of the post-strike agreement with the government on non-victimisation of our members who participated in the strike.
“We strongly oppose this discriminatory practice which we view as the government’s open invitation to an industrial crisis. Credible information available to us has it that the directive of Mr President is for all university-based unions to be paid four months’ salary.
“The NEC therefore suspects saboteurs in this government bent on destabilising and destroying the good intent of Mr. President towards sustaining industrial peace in the university system.
“NEC in session, therefore, calls on the relevant authorities of government to immediately implement the directive of Mr. President by paying our members the four months withheld salaries, failing which NEC has approved a one-week warning strike in conjunction with our sister union in JAC, NASU.”
The unions also demanded that the government expedite action on the renegotiation of the new national minimum wage as the current national minimum wage had completely been made useless by the hyperinflation currently ravaging the country.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
