ASUP threatens to resume strike as government fails to honour agreements

The union says governmnet is not taking
them seriously.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics,
ASUP, has threatened to resume its
suspended national strike, following the
failure of the government to resolve
contending issues with the union within a
stipulated time frame.
The union suspended its two months
strike last month following the
intervention of federal lawmakers and
promises by the government to meet the
lecturers’ demands.
The threat of the looming strike was
disclosed in a statement by ASUP’s
National Publicity Secretary, Clement
Chirman, on Tuesday. Mr. Chirman said
that the federal government was playing
games with the lecturers demands.
“None (of the demands) has been fully
addressed,” he said.
Some of the issues yet to be addressed
are the re-negotiation of a Federal
Government/ASUP agreement; the
removal of the dichotomy between HND/
University graduates in placement and
career progression; constitution of an
effective and functional governing council
for polytechnics; a white paper on
visitation panels to polytechnics and a
much-needed assessment of
polytechnics.
The statement noted with regret that
government was not being serious with
the challenges of the union.
“It would be recalled that government
requested for two weeks to handle these
issues but ASUP granted one month
which expired on 16th August 2013. This
is enough provocation and ASUP will act
most appropriately to settle this matter
once and for all,” the statement read.
The union, therefore, threatened to
resume its strike.
Resumption of the strike would further
cripple academic activities in the nation’s
public tertiary institutions as the
Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU, is currently on an indefinite
nationwide strike that is in its seventh
week.