Ondo varsity unions go on strike over non-payment of minimum wage, others
Trade unions at Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa, Ondo State, have notified the state governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa, of an imminent strike over unpaid minimum wages, wage awards, and delays in the institution’s subvention.
Mr. Temidayo Temola, Chairman of the Joint Action Congress (JAC) of the unions, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on Thursday in Okitipupa, shortly after its Congress.
Supreme News reports that the unions are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Unions and Allied Educational Institutions (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
Temola said that the state government has failed to implement the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) new minimum wage of N30,000 for workers in the university since 2019, as well as discrimination in the payment of N35,000 wage awards to workers in the institution.
He also said that the monthly subvention of the institution declined from N60 million to N42 million and later rose to N54 million which has been delayed for sometime now.
According to him, for the record and avoidance of doubt, the agitations are: non-implementation of the the 2019 minimum wage; discrimination in the the payment of N35,000 wage awards; reduction and delay in the the release of subvention;; and non-payment of the the approved budgetary allocation of subvention.
“It is sad to note that,, as we speak, the 2019 minimum wage that is becoming old has not affected our salaries.
“You can now imagine the geometrical increase in prices of goods and services thereafter,, and we do not need any soothsayerss to tell the whole world that no group of workers is more impoverished than the workers in this university.
“On the wage award,, which is to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal, whose payment was commenced in November and December 2023, we maintain that continuous discriminatory payment will not be tolerated or accepted.
“Finally, in line with the resolution of Ondo State JAC, we are putting the state government, our university Governing council, and Management on notice of an impending industrial action if these issues are not resolved in few days,” Temola said
He, however, said that JAC,, in its Congress, mourned and commiserated with Ayedatiwa and the good people of Ondo State over the demise of the former visitor to the university, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who died on December 27, 2023, in Germany.
