The congress directed four university-based unions, which included the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Education Institutions, and the National Association of Academic Technologists, to meet and report back to the NLC on the unpaid salaries.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), President has lambasted Muhammadu Buhari’s Government for shifting the university system's issue to the future administration by refusing to pay withholding salaries of university unions.
The congress directed four university-based unions, which included the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Education Institutions, and the National Association of Academic Technologists, to meet and report back to the NLC on the unpaid salaries.
The President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero said this during a visit to the headquarters of SSANU on Wednesday in Abuja.
This is as the SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim appealed to President Buhari to pay the withheld salaries of its members before handing over on May 29.
The university unions went on strike last year which lasted between four to nine months.
In return, the Federal Government invoked the No work No pay policy for the duration the strike lasted.
Ajaero said: “The federal government is making a mistake by not paying those arrears of salaries. That is part of the crisis they (Buhari’s administration) are transferring to the incoming government and they must face it. There is no way you will say no work no pay when you are the cause of the No work. You can’t benefit from your inadequacy.
“If we accept that that will be the end of industrial relations and we should also be conscious of precedence in law; that precedence cannot stand.
“I want to plead with you that the unions in the education sector should meet and send us a memo in NLC. We are going to call national action for the payment of arrears of withheld salaries.
“We have waited enough for the Nigerian state to retrace its steps. It is bad enough to owe people for three to five months as a punitive measure for an agreement the government failed to obey and still boasting.
“If the unions could get across to us, all the sectors- electricity, oil and gas; we will start a solidarity action until the federal government takes responsibility for its inaction. This is not a threat because we are not known for issuing threats.“I want to plead with you that the unions in the education sector should meet and send us a memo in NLC. We are going to call national action for the payment of arrears of withheld salaries.
“We have waited enough for the Nigerian state to retrace its steps. It is bad enough to owe people for three to five months as a punitive measure for an agreement the government failed to obey and still boasting.
“If the unions could get across to us, all the sectors- electricity, oil and gas; we will start a solidarity action until the federal government takes responsibility for its inaction. This is not a threat because we are not known for issuing threats.
“I want to plead with you that the unions in the education sector should meet and send us a memo in NLC. We are going to call national action for the payment of arrears of withheld salaries. We have waited enough for the Nigerian state to retrace its steps. It is bad enough to owe people for three to five months as a punitive measure for an agreement the government failed to obey and still boasting.
“If the unions could get across to us, all the sectors- electricity, oil and gas; we will start a solidarity action until the federal government takes responsibility for its inaction. This is not a threat because we are not known for issuing threats.”