FG should pay ASUU salary arrears – NLC, TUC

The President of the Trade Union
Congress, Mr. Boboi Kaigama and the
Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria
Labour Congress, Mr. Chris Uyot, on
Monday, called on the Federal
Government to accede to the demand of
striking university lecturers by paying
their salary arrears from July to October,
2013.
Both Kaigama and Uyot, who spoke in
different telephone interviews with our
correspondent, said that the issue at
stake was too serious for the government
to endanger with a minor issue as the
withholding of the salaries of the striking
lecturers.
Kaigama said that the lecturers should
have been paid their salaries as going on
strike did not mean that they were no
longer entitled to their salaries.
He explained that the union went on strike
because the Federal Government failed to
implement the 2009 agreement reached
with the university lecturers.
He added that it was not the lecturers’
fault for embarking on the strike, saying
the story would have been different if it
was ASUU that violated the terms of the
agreement.
He said, “It is okay, they are supposed to
be paid their salaries; when one is on
strike, it does not mean that he cannot be
paid his or her salary.
“They went on strike because of an
agreement that was negotiated which the
government has not been able to fulfill.
The government should, pay them their
salaries. The situation would have been
different if they were the ones that
reneged on the agreement.”
On the issue of the insistence of the
leadership of ASUU that the Federal
Government must commence
implementation of the fresh agreement
with the union through the release of
N100bn this year, he said that he did not
see the government going back on the
agreement.
He said that the TUC and the NLC would
support ASUU to ensure the
implementation of the last agreement as
it was witnessed by him and the NLC
President, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar.
“The NLC President Omar, and I are living
witnesses to the final agreement that was
reached between them and the
government; we will support them based
on what we witnessed, based on what
they agreed with the government and the
new implementation strategy.
“The TUC and the NLC will back them to
ensure that the implementation strategy is
followed. An aspect will be implemented
this year and the first quarter of next
year,” he added
Kaigama said that while he wouldn’t
speak for ASUU, it was his conviction that
they might have been waiting for an
agreement to be signed before calling off
the strike.
Speaking also, the Acting General
Secretary of NLC, Uyot, said that the NLC
was of the view that the Federal
Government would not allow the issue of
the outstanding salary arrears of ASUU
members to disrupt its offer to the union.
Uyot said that it was unlikely that the
Federal Government would allow such a
“minor issue” to derail its discussions
with the union considering the fact that
both parties wanted the issue of the
lingering strike to be resolved.
He stated also that while ASUU went on
strike, the government couldn’t be
exonerated from the industrial dispute
having failed to implement the 2009
agreement reached with the university
lecturers.
“Well, given the spirit of the discussions
between ASUU and government officials
led by President Goodluck Jonathan, the
issue of non-payment of salaries, we do
not think, is something the government
might consider because the spirit was
such that both parties particularly the
government wanted resolved.
“So, we don’t think that a minute issue
would derail the offer that the government
has made.
“In any case both parties were involved in
the strike. The union signed an agreement
with the government which the
government did not implement, so
government cannot say that it was not
part of the problem,” he said.