Members of the Academic Staff of Universities, ASUU, Taraba State University Chapter, Tuesday protested the victimization of its members by the state government for joining the just suspended ASUU strike.
The Union in a release signed by its chairman, Dr. Shikaa Samuel and issued to newsmen, it said the state government instituted a ‘no work, no pay’ as punitive measures against the union members for joining the just suspended nationwide ASUU strike.
The Union also claimed that participation of its members in the National ASUU strike was not on sympathy grounds.
The statement in part says, “The Governor claims that he has solved all local issues in the Branch; hence, the participation of ASUU-TSU in the strike was purely on “sympathy” grounds, on the basis of which he decides to withhold the salaries of our members to serve as a deterrent in the future.
“The Union wishes to make two things very clear about this misunderstanding of the issues as follows:
“ Our participation in the nationwide strike was not on sympathy grounds. The issues that necessitated the strike such as the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement pertaining to the salary structure and welfare of our members, revitalization funds for all public universities, deployment of UTAS against the obnoxious IPPIS to ensure university autonomy among other issues affected us too, hence, the need for us to join in the struggle.
“On this basis, our participation in the strike was not on sympathy grounds. As a committed Branch of the Union, we participated in the strike to press home, issues that equally affect us for our own good and the benefit of TSU generally, and so did every other state university in the country. The benefits of our participation in national strikes so far are everywhere in TSU for everyone to see.
“The Visitor’s claim that all local issues in the University are resolved is misrepresented. As a Union, we strongly disagree with this claim and wish to state that none of the local issues affecting the Branch has been addressed.
“For the records, the academic staff of the university have not received salaries since February 2022. At the moment, no mention is made as to precisely when the withheld salaries will be paid.
“It is worth noting that, the salary for October 2022 is also withheld even as the nationwide strike was suspended last month.
“Consequent upon this, we wish to state that to avoid industrial disharmony in the University moving forward, the Taraba State government should, without delay Release ALL withheld salaries of our members from February to date and Address all issues in the 2021 MoA willingly signed with the Union.
“With this passionate appeal, the Union hopes that all stakeholders in the State will weigh into the situation to see that these and sundry other issues capable of disrupting industrial peace in the University are addressed without further delay.“
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