Teachers’ union divided over today’s planned strike in unity colleges

The proposed strike billed for today in all the unity colleges by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has brought division among members of the union, following the decision by the headquarters to put the action on hold without consulting the chairmen of various units.

The teachers had at their last meeting in Lagos agreed to proceed on an indefinite strike beginning from today if the Federal Government fails to meet all their demands.

But The Guardian yesterday learnt that the strike would not hold following the directive from the national headquarters of the union instructing members in the Federal Government Colleges (FGCs) nationwide to halt the action.

Confirming the development, Chairman of Queens College’s chapter of ASCSN, Sarafadeen Oladejo, said though the national headquarter had directed that the strike be put on hold, some unit chairmen kicked against the decision.

His words: “There is a directive from the national headquarters that the strike should be put on hold, but some unit chairmen want to forge ahead because they believe that the directive was contrary to the agreement reached at the Lagos meeting where the June 12 strike was declared.

“Their argument was that they were supposed to be contacted before deciding that the proposed strike be put on hold for whatever reason. So as it is now, some are ready to push ahead with the strike while some want to obey the headquarters’ directive. As for Queen’s College, we are not going on strike.”

But the Chairman of FGC, Oyo, who identified himself as Comrade Amza B.K., said, “the strike is starting tomorrow (today), there is no going back.”