Four Osun tertiary institutions begin indefinite strike
Bayelsa splinter teachers’ union is illegal’
ACADEMIC activities have been suspended since Friday and students have
vacated in four higher institutions of learning in Osun State, which
begin an indefinite industrial action following alleged non-payment of
their allowances and sundry welfare matters.
The affected institutions are the Polytechnic, Iree, College of Education, Esa-Oke, and the Colleges of Education in Ilesa and Ila-Orangun, all owned by the state government.
Meanwhile, a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore, has blamed Governor Rauf Aregbesola for the development, alleging that he is not sensitive to the plight of the indigenes.
And as the over four-month-old industrial action by the primary school teachers in Benue State over the non-payment of the national minimum wage continues, parents and other stakeholders have blamed the state government for not handling the matter well enough.
Apart from the minimum wage issue, the teachers are also demanding promotion and leave grants, which have cumulated from 2010. Some parents noted that teachers are very crucial in the society and would have been the first group to benefit from improved welfare.
Nevertheless, they noted that though the teachers have a good course to be at home, they should also show understanding to save the children’s education.
Nevertheless, the National Industrial Court sitting in Calabar has declared a splinter body of teachers known as the Basic Education Staff Association of Nigeria (BESAN) in Bayelsa State as not a trade union as known under the Trade Union Act (TUA).
BESAN, which was formed in 2007 by some aggrieved members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, had been locked in legal battle with the leadership of the NUT for recognition in the state.
In a statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of his campaign organisation, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, Omisore said: “It is quite inhuman and a lack of focus for a government to be commissioning rehabilitated primary school buildings at the expense of the state-owned tertiary institutions.
He alleged that state government was deploying propaganda when it commissioned “a primary school financed by the Federal Government through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) as if it was solely executed by Aregbesola with the state allocation”.
Omisore said there was no reason lecturers would not go on strike since they are not well paid and are denied 65 years’ retirement age as implemented in other states, while students are denied bursary and the schools lack basic facilities.
He challenged Aregbesola to state with facts and figures how much he had expended on state-owned tertiary institutions or the actual amount he had given to the institutions in grants since he assumed office.
In its originating summons on March 4, 2013, the BESAN leadership had asked the court to declare that all primary school teachers in the state were at liberty to join any association or union of their choice.
It also sought a declaration that BESAN has the right to exist for the purpose, as incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990, and that the NUT (4th defendant) was not entitled to any check-off dues from salaries of the members of BESAN as from April 2010.
In his ruling, the presiding justice, F. I. Kola Olalere, of the National Industrial Court, declared that though members have right to form an association, the first claimant (BESAN), as registered under CAMA, is not a trade union under the Trade Union Act (TUA) and is, therefore, not entitled to collect check-off dues from its members.
However, he restrained the fourth defendant from deducting check-off dues from the 10 members who have properly withdrawn their membership from the union, and to refund to them the total sum deducted from their salaries from May 2010 till date within 30 days of the judgment.
Governor Gabriel Suswam has maintained at several fora that the state cannot afford the over 20,000 academic and non-academic primary school staff rate due to paucity of funds.
But the state Chairman of the NUT, Mr. Gowin Anya, told The Guardian that members view government’s complain as unfair since other workers in the state were already benefiting from it.
The affected institutions are the Polytechnic, Iree, College of Education, Esa-Oke, and the Colleges of Education in Ilesa and Ila-Orangun, all owned by the state government.
Meanwhile, a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore, has blamed Governor Rauf Aregbesola for the development, alleging that he is not sensitive to the plight of the indigenes.
And as the over four-month-old industrial action by the primary school teachers in Benue State over the non-payment of the national minimum wage continues, parents and other stakeholders have blamed the state government for not handling the matter well enough.
Apart from the minimum wage issue, the teachers are also demanding promotion and leave grants, which have cumulated from 2010. Some parents noted that teachers are very crucial in the society and would have been the first group to benefit from improved welfare.
Nevertheless, they noted that though the teachers have a good course to be at home, they should also show understanding to save the children’s education.
Nevertheless, the National Industrial Court sitting in Calabar has declared a splinter body of teachers known as the Basic Education Staff Association of Nigeria (BESAN) in Bayelsa State as not a trade union as known under the Trade Union Act (TUA).
BESAN, which was formed in 2007 by some aggrieved members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, had been locked in legal battle with the leadership of the NUT for recognition in the state.
In a statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of his campaign organisation, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, Omisore said: “It is quite inhuman and a lack of focus for a government to be commissioning rehabilitated primary school buildings at the expense of the state-owned tertiary institutions.
He alleged that state government was deploying propaganda when it commissioned “a primary school financed by the Federal Government through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) as if it was solely executed by Aregbesola with the state allocation”.
Omisore said there was no reason lecturers would not go on strike since they are not well paid and are denied 65 years’ retirement age as implemented in other states, while students are denied bursary and the schools lack basic facilities.
He challenged Aregbesola to state with facts and figures how much he had expended on state-owned tertiary institutions or the actual amount he had given to the institutions in grants since he assumed office.
In its originating summons on March 4, 2013, the BESAN leadership had asked the court to declare that all primary school teachers in the state were at liberty to join any association or union of their choice.
It also sought a declaration that BESAN has the right to exist for the purpose, as incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990, and that the NUT (4th defendant) was not entitled to any check-off dues from salaries of the members of BESAN as from April 2010.
In his ruling, the presiding justice, F. I. Kola Olalere, of the National Industrial Court, declared that though members have right to form an association, the first claimant (BESAN), as registered under CAMA, is not a trade union under the Trade Union Act (TUA) and is, therefore, not entitled to collect check-off dues from its members.
However, he restrained the fourth defendant from deducting check-off dues from the 10 members who have properly withdrawn their membership from the union, and to refund to them the total sum deducted from their salaries from May 2010 till date within 30 days of the judgment.
Governor Gabriel Suswam has maintained at several fora that the state cannot afford the over 20,000 academic and non-academic primary school staff rate due to paucity of funds.
But the state Chairman of the NUT, Mr. Gowin Anya, told The Guardian that members view government’s complain as unfair since other workers in the state were already benefiting from it.
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