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Tag: SSANU

  • Unions direct university workers to commence nationwide strike from tomorrow

    Unions direct university workers to commence nationwide strike from tomorrow

    Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of the Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU) have been directed to embark on a nationwide strike from Friday.

    The directive was issued in a statement signed by the leaders of both university staff associations on Thursday.

    Representatives of the federal government met with the unions on Tuesday, but the workers said the outcome was “not satisfactory enough to” assure them that government would meet their demands.

    The unions are asking, among other demands, for the government to rectify inconsistencies in the payroll of its members and pay minimum wage arrears.

    The strike action, if followed through, could cripple most government-run universities.

    The universities were shut for most of 2020 due to a nine-month strike carried out by academic workers and closures necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.

    Amid a second wave of the pandemic sweeping through the country, the National Universities Commission in January urged universities to re-open and commence academic activities.

    Friday’s strike could hamper the much-awaited restart.

    In a statement signed by the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, and the SSANU’s National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, the unions said it would meet on Friday to “pass resolutions on the way forward” after its Tuesday meeting with the federal government.

    “In the meantime,” the statement said, “the nationwide strike takes effect from 12 midnight, 5th February 2021 pending any contrary resolution by the Branches.”

    Its Tuesday meeting with the government had been attended by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, the acting Chairman of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, the Director of Tertiary at the Federal Ministry of Education and the Director of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

    But the unions felt the government representation wasn’t adequate.

    The Joint Action Committee leadership “noted that the quality of representation of Government and the fact that while the officials were quite relevant to the meeting, their mandate to effectively commit government on the issues in contention was not satisfactory enough to gain the confidence of the JAC leadership,” the statement said.

    “The position was adequately conveyed to the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment.”

  • Why ASUU agreed to call off 10-month-old strike

    Why ASUU agreed to call off 10-month-old strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday called off the age-long strike that has kept Nigerian students at home going to 10 months.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the ASUU called off the strike after series of meetings with federal government negotiators that included Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment.

    ASUU agreed with the FG to call off the strike after reaching an agreement on major issues that will led to the strike at the first place.

    The agreement was reached on the early hours of Wednesday morning after an eight hour long closed door meeting of negotiations between both parties.

    ASUU expressed joy on how the FG handled the negotiation process, and following an ASUU NEC, the union concluded to call off the strike.

    Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) had given the FG a December ultimatum to implement the new minimum wage by releasing funds to clear the backlog of new minimum wage arrears due to her members or risk industrial unrest.

    SSANU National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, who made the call in Yola, warned that another strike action by the union would be inevitable even if ASUU should suspend their strike.

  • Resumption hopes dashed as SSANU, NASU commence strike today

    Resumption hopes dashed as SSANU, NASU commence strike today

    The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) will on Monday (today) begin a 14-day warning strike.

    The unions announced this in a letter, dated September 28, 2020, and jointly signed by NASU General Secretary Peters Adeyemi and SSANU President Samson Ugwoke and addressed to branch chairmen of both unions.

    The letter reads: “Kindly recall earlier information on the above subject matter wherein it was conveyed that the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU would embark on a 14-day industrial action immediately universities resume, following the COVID-19 lockdown.

    “Following the recent directives from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to Vice Chancellors for the immediate resumption/safe reopening of universities, you are hereby directed to begin a 14-day warning strike effective from October 5 to 19, 2020.”

    The two unions said the warning strike could snowball into full-blown action, if their demands are not addressed by the Federal Government.

  • Universities workers point out problems with IPPIS, threaten fresh strike

    …FG reacts, directs universities bursars to take action

    Universities workers have pointed out the problems they are having with the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), threatening to embark on a total and indefinite strike if the issues were not resolved.

    It would be recalled that the Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), has threatened to embark on strike over problems associated with the payment of salary through the IPPIS platform.

    The non teaching staff has also issued a 14-day ultimatum to the government to correct all the problems associated with the IPPIS and the release of their Earned Allowances before the easing of the lockdown, otherwise its members will not resume duty when schools resume.

    Mr Samson Ugwoke, Chairman of JAC and President of SSANU, in a telephone interview, said that non teaching staff of universities have been passing through hardship since they enrolled into the IPPIS platform.

    Ugwoke noted that in the past four months, members have not received full salaries, while deductions made for the servicing of bank loans which members took have not been remitted to the banks and cooperative societies.

    “Since the inception of the IPPIS contrary to what the platform is supposed to be, what we were told and what we believed before we accepted the platform.

    “SSANU members and the non teaching staff in the universities have not received complete salaries.

    “From January 2020 till date, we have not received full salaries and since that time till now, no pay slip has been released by IPPIS to the universities. So all that our members have received as net pay is what IPPIS wants to give us.

    “It’s that worse because if you have your pay slip, you will know what are the deductions made from your salary.

    “Up till now, the other deductions that are meant for our members and their welfare are being withheld by the IPPIS and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

    “They deducted tax and paid to the Federal Government, they deducted welfare money, they deducted cooperative society funds, deducted loans and withheld it since that time, ” he said.

    He said that the implication was that salaries have not been paid in full since the inception of the IPPIS.

    He said that some members were indebted to cooperative societies, banks, among others, by agreement reached with the organisations, the repayments are made monthly.

    He added that the accumulating interests are compounding the problem on members.

    Ugwoke noted that other issues affecting the non teaching staff include the earned allowances, payment of benefits, pension of retired members, retirement age, among others.

    “We have written to the Minister of Labour and Employment, we are yet to get a reply even though they are talking about calling us for a meeting.

    “But we insist, you do not need to call a meeting to pay us full salary or release pay slips. We have made it clear to the minister that they should do the needful.

    “We have also made it very clear that if all these things are not addressed, any time the universities are going to reopen after the lockdown, we are going to embark on total strike.

    “We have written to notify them that we will commence a 14-day warning strike in the first instance and thereafter it will be total and indefinite,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has said his ministry had received the strike notice from the non teaching staff unions in the universities and was making efforts to meet with the leaderships of the unions.

    He said the federal government has directed bursars of universities to compile a list of problems associated with payment of salaries through the IPPIS.

    Ngige, who made this known while addressing newsmen on Sunday in Abuja, said the federal government was in touch with bursars of universities to compile all the problems associated with the payment of salaries through the IPPIS platform so that they could be addressed.

    “We are on top of the situation, we have received their letter. Their letter borders on shortcomings of the IPPIS system and I have spoken with the Finance Minister and the Accountant General of the Federation.

    “They said that they are in touch with the university bursars to correct certain peculiarities and send back to them to treat.

    “However, it’s important to point out that one of the shortcomings which the university workers pointed out is that the IPPIS is over taxing them.

    “They also said that the IPPIS skipped some of their people who have taken leave of absence. These are matters that can be easily adjusted.

    “The IPPIS office informed me that immediately the lockdown is over, the bursars are to come up, but before then that they should by e-system try to give them additional information on some of those shortcomings and that they will try as much as possible to correct them.

    “We have equally gone out to the unions and asked them that we want to meet with them and the IPPIS; so we are trying to see if we can arrange a special pass so that their leaders could come up here and we would have the meeting,” he said.

    Ngige said since Zoom meeting would not be able to correct some of the problems, the government had decided to have a physical meeting as soon as possible.

    He said that his office was planning to apply for special pass from the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 for a physical meeting with the unions to thrash out all the contentious issues.

  • SSANU commences 3-Day nationwide protest today

    The Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) will start a three-day nationwide protest on Monday over the Federal Government disobedience to court judgment on the issue of staff schools and failure of government to implement an agreement reached with the Union especially on Earned Allowance.

    SSANU took the decision to embark on the protest at its 35th regular National Executive Council (NEC), meeting held at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology.

    In a resolution signed by its National President, Comrade Samson Ugwoke and the National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Abdussobur Salaam, SSANU accused the Federal Government of disobeying the judgment of National Industrial Court, Abuja, that asked that teachers in University Staff Schools that were sacked by government should be reinstated.

    The Union also said that the Federal Government has not released the N8 billion Earned Allowance it promised to them.

    Recall that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had as part of the resolution reached at a conciliation meeting on March 13, 2018, announced that the Federal Government will pay the three non-teaching staff unions N8 billion as their Earned Allowance.

    However, the Union regretted that several months after the agreement was reached, the money was yet to be released.

    According to SSANU, the delay in the payment had become a source of discomfort and agitation by members of the three unions and has also become a source of embarrassment for the leadership.

    The resolution read: “The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Education had informed the Chairman of the Joint Action Committee of NAAT, NASU and SSANU via a letter dated 9th August 2018, that approval had been given for the release of Eight Billion Naira being payment of Earned Allowances for Non-teaching Staff in the Universities and requested for templates for the payments to the unions.”

    It added, “it appears that the letters being sent to the unions are a delay ploy by the Federal Ministry of Education as the letters in themselves are needless because the unions had always made their positions known since the irregular disbursement of N23 billion to ASUU in 2017.”

    “Members have been fully mobilised to participate in the protests, while branches are advised to carry along the media and the security agencies accordingly,” it stated.

  • BREAKING: NASU, SSANU suspend nationwide strike

    After three months, The Non-Teaching Staff of Nigerian universities on Wednesday announced the suspension of their strike action.

    The staff, members of three unions, made of the Non Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (NASU), Senior Staff Academic of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) National Association of Academic Technologists, (NAAT), announced the suspension of the three month and 10 days old strike.

    Samson Ugwoke, the National Chairman of the Joint Action Committee of the three unions announced suspension on Wednesday at a press briefing.

    He said members of the three unions have been directed to resume on March 15, 2018.

    “We shall not hesitate to resume the strike if government reneges on the agreements reached or delays in any aspects,” he said.

    The workers commenced the strike on December 4, 2017.

    Recall TheNewsGuru had yesterday reported that the federal government says it will source for N8 billion within five weeks to pay the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said this at a resolution reached after a reconciliation meeting with the Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities in Abuja.

    The resolution was jointly signed by Mr. Ngige, NAAT President, Sani Suleiman, NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, SSANU President Samson Ugwoke and Anthony Anwukah, Minister of State for Education.

    Ngige, also said part of the eight billion would also be used to pay members of the Academic Staff Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and the University of llorin (UNILORIN), who were not paid at the last disbursement.

    He also said that the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission was to rework the December 15 Call Circular on University Staff Schools.

  • Strike: UniAbuja SSANU seeks NASS’ intervention

    The University of Abuja (UniAbuja), chapter of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), has called on the National Assembly to intervene in the ongoing industrial dispute between it and the Federal Government.

    Members of Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising Non-academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), SSANU and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have been on strike over Federal Government’s failure to pay their earned allowances.

    The strike commenced on Dec. 4, 2017.

    A statement by SSANU’s National President and Chairman JAC, Mr Samson Ugwoke, on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the leader of UniAbuja chapter of SSANU, Malam Hassan Shallangwa, had presented a letter requesting the intervention of lawmakers.

    He said that the letter was presented to Mr Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of House of Representatives, through his Special Assistant Media and Publicity, Mr Turaki Hassan.

    “The Federal Government, through its relevant Ministers, have refused to dialogue with the unions and are pretending that all is well in our campuses, but we believe that it is only the National Assembly that can call them to order in the interest of Nigerian Education

    ‘’The strike we embarked upon since Dec. 4, 2017 has been crippling almost all activities on our campuses, yet the government remained passive about it, ’’the statement quoted Shallangwa as saying.

    Ugwoke expressed JAC’s dismay that the N23 billion paid by the Federal Government was cornered to pay the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ‘’for their Earned Academic Allowances.”

    He said that the three non-teaching staff unions were left with N4.6 billion (11 per cent), as earned allowances.

     

  • Panic in Nigerian universities as NAAT, NASU, SSANU resume suspended strike

    The non-academic staff unions of Nigerian universities (NASU) have resumed their suspended strike.

    The unions, members of NAAT, NASU, and SSANU, announced the resumption of the strike in a joint statement on Thursday night.

    They said the strike will resume on Monday, December 3.

    The statement was signed by the national presidents of NAAT, Sani Sulaimon; NASU, Chris Ani; and SSANU, Samson Ugwoke.

    The workers said they reject the mode of sharing the recent financial allocation to universities.

    “We wrote a letter to the federal ministry of education to explain the criteria for the allocation and we gave them seven days notice to do the needful. But the date has elapsed without a response from the federal government,” they said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the unions had earlier suspended their strike and asked their members to resume work on September 25 after signing a memorandum of understanding with the federal government.

    They gave the federal government one month to start the implementation of the agreement; but said on Thursday that the government is yet to meet their demands after two months of signing the agreement.

     

  • Unionism: Bello bans activities of NLC, SSANU, NASU, ASUP, others in Kogi institutions

    Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on Wednesday announced the ban on the activities of Joint Action Committee (JAC) of trade unions and all forms of trade unionism in state-owned tertiary institutions.

    Bello, who made the announcement in a broadcast in Lokoja on Wednesday accused trade unionism in tertiary institutions of impeding government holistic reforms.

    He said he had respect for the rights of all citizens to responsibly associate and pursue their welfare within the ambits of the law and norms of a democratic society.

    The governor said his administration had made tremendous progress in resolving all issues relating to adequacy and frequency of remuneration for all categories of Civil Servants in the State.

    He reiterated his respect for the rights of labour unions in relations to the responsibilities of the owners and proprietors of tertiary academic institutions.

    Bello, however, regretted that the state-owned tertiary institutions’ trade unionism had let itself to impeding government’s efforts to carry out “holistic reforms in the civil service through its unjustified industrial actions.

    “The branch of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) in Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, has proceeded on yet another strike for alleged non-payment of salaries and emoluments irrespective of clear evidence of government’s good faith and efforts contradicting JAC’s position,” he said.

    The governor said there was evidence of massive embezzlement at Kogi State Polytechnic’s earnings in excess of N157m committed under JAC’s nose.

    Bello assured that his government remained committed to meeting its obligations to all genuine employees of the state as promptly as available resources would permit.

    “Government will work to ensure uninterrupted academic calendar, henceforth, in all basic education, secondary and tertiary academic institutions in Kogi State.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, and except where specified otherwise, references herein to the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Trade Unions of Tertiary Institutions owned by Kogi State are referred to:

    “The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU). The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP). The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU). The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) and The Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education in Nigeria (SSUCOEN).

    “Others are the National Associations of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and any other Union operating in any tertiary Institutions owned by the Kogi State Government,” he said.

     

    NAN

     

     

  • JUST IN: NASU, SSANU, NAAT suspend strike

    The non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities operating under the aegis of Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU; Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU and National Association of Academic Technologist, NAAT have suspended their strike.

    The staff, members of the three unions, NASU, SSANU, and NAAT, announced the suspension of the 11 days old strike on Thursday.

    Sam Ugwoke, the national president of the Joint Action Committee of three unions, announced the suspension at a media briefing in Abuja.

    Ugwoke said the strike was being suspended for a month to allow the government meet their demands.

    He enjoined government to “ensure compliance” with agreements reached with the unions.