Polytechnic workers shift strike till Dec. 2

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has deferred its planned strike till December 2, to enable the Federal Government address its demands.

ASUP National President, Kpanja Shammah, disclosed this to The Guardian at the end of the union’s emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
ASUP had earlier issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands.

The union is protesting the National Board for Technical Education’s (NBTE’s) alleged interference in the statutory duties of academic boards on the admission of Higher National Diploma (HND) students.

It is also demanding infrastructure revitalisation through the NEEDS Assessment intervention, implementation of promotions in state institutions, and the payment of all outstanding promotion arrears.

He said: “Resolutions and an action plan were developed during the meeting to resolve the issues. The union’s NEC, therefore, met again on an emergency note to review the action plan, as proposed in the meeting with the stakeholders. After exhaustive deliberations, the union resolved to defer its proposed industrial action to December 2.

Shammah noted that the decision was taken to gauge the government’s commitment to implementing the action plan as agreed at the earlier meeting last week.

“It is, therefore, the expectation of our union that the government will take advantage of the period to show commitment by diligently executing the action plan on each of the 11 items of dispute or risk a comprehensive withdrawal of service by academic staff in the country’s polytechnics,” Shammah added.