Federal Government Appeal to Polytechnics Lecturers To Call Off Strike

On Tuesday, January 31, the federal government while speaking through a representative in Abuja indicated that it would implement the ‘No work, No pay’ rule on polytechnic lecturers currently on strike.

Chris Ngige who is the minister of labour and employment, appealed with the lecturers involved in the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) industrial action, to suspend their 5-day warning strike. The lecturers had embarked on the warning strike on Monday to protest non-payment of salaries among other issues.

According to NAN, Ngige said: “I wish to remind the Trade Unions that there is nothing like a “Warning Strike” in our National Industrial Relations System (NIRS)."

The minister said the strike was subject to all the rules governing strike in the world of work. Noting that Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act, CAP. T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN, 2004, would be applied regarding the law of “No Work No Pay’’.

He assured listeners that the FG was ready and willing to fully dialogue with the members of the union. “The union had declared its intention to embark on a 5-day warning strike, effective from January 31, 2017.

“Government will open an unhindered channel of communication with all stakeholders and shall maintain this. “Moreover, the Federal Ministry of Education has been discussing issues with ASUP on the concerns raised.

“Therefore, it is important for Trade Unions to embrace social dialogue in the pursuit and attainment of the economic and social interests of their members anchored on equity, natural justice and agreed procedures," he concluded.

The minister, therefore, appealed to the trade unions to embrace dialogue as the Federal Government is fully committed to peaceful resolution of all the issues at stake.

Meanwhile, only recently, President Muhammadu Buhari had to appeal to the leadership of Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) to call off their strike, and to understand that the nation is in recession, hence the inability of his government to meet their demands.