The industrial action being embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) may continue indefinitely unless the federal government steps out to address the demands of the members, national president of the union, Anderson Ezeibe has
Mr. Ezeibe disclosed this while addressing journalists at Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic Unwanna, Afikpo, Ebonyi state after the union congress on Monday.
He dared the federal government to implement the ‘no work, no pay’ policy on the striking lecturers since they fulfilled all the requirements for the strike.
Ezeibe explained that the N15 billion released by the federal government was not for the welfare of its members but for revitalisation of infrastructure in the sector.
He said, “The calling off of our strike is in the hands of the federal government. The issues in contention are very clear and the union is still on strike as at today. The congress today was only meant to educate our members, update them, let them get to know where we are on each of the items of the strike.
“The congress does not have the powers to review or suspend the strike; it is the responsibility of the National Executive Council of the union. For now, the strike is in full force and you can see that the strike is being observed in totality.
“The issue of ‘no work, no pay’ is very contentious. It is very contentious because if the union has met the legal requirement before embarking on a strike, then the government cannot be on a strong legal footing to implement ‘no work, no pay’.
“If we have given all the notices that is required of us from the trade union act, given the government every ample opportunity to resolve the issues with our union, then the government cannot be standing on both legal and moral ground to start talking about no work, no pay.”
“The government in itself provided the incentive for the strike, they provided the incentive for the strike because they have neglected the sector, because they refused to respond to series of letters, complaints written to them by the union spanning over one year.
“The notice for this strike was issued in March last year. And so, if the government could not respond to these issues within one year, then you would agree with me that the government has provided incentive for the strike.”