The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) on Thursday suspended its 158-day-old strike for three months.
NAAT President, Ibeji Nwokoma, said the suspension of the strike was to allow the government time to conclude negotiations and implementation of NAAT’s demands.
Like SSANU and NASU which suspended their strike on Saturday, NAAT noted that it would proceed on another round of strike without warning should the government fail to effectively address the issues at the expiration of the three months ultimatum.
“It is important to state that at the expiration of the three months window period, NAAT will not hesitate to resume the suspended strike action without notice if all the issues agreed upon with the Honourable Minister of Education, on behalf of the government are not holistically addressed,” said Mr Nwokoma.
NAAT is one of the university-based unions that downed tools early in the year, following the government’s failure to meet its demands.
SSANU and NASU had also on Thursday suspended their strike for two months, threatening to down tools again if the government failed to conclude negotiations by October.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said it would meet on Sunday to decide on whether to suspend the strike or not.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, had last week said ASUU is the only union that has refused to accept his demands that the strike be suspended, insisting that their members’ salaries during the strike must be paid before they will suspend the strike. But the minister said the idea was flatly rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari.
NAAT striker suspension
In a press statement on Thursday, the NAAT president said the union decided to suspend the strike for the next three months beginning on 26 August, after the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union reviewed the decisions made by the various chapters of the association during their various congresses.
According to him, the result of the referendum from branches showed that 80.56 per cent voted in favour of a suspension of the strike while 19.44 per cent voted for the continuation of the strike action.
He said: “NEC in the interest of the nation unanimously resolved to suspend the ongoing strike action for three (3) months to enable the Government to address all the issues at stake, effective from midnight of Friday, 26th August 2022.”
He said NAAT rejected the position of the government on “No Work No Pay” and demanded that their withheld salaries be paid without delay, noting that his union followed all laid down rules before embarking on strike.
He said: “It should be noted that NAAT complied with all laid down procedures before embarking on the industrial action. Therefore, NAAT demands in strong terms the payment of our withheld salaries without delay.”
NAAT, however, implored the Minister of Education “to plead with the government on passionate ground to pay August 2022 salaries to members of NAAT immediately the strike is suspended.”
Demands
Mr Nwokoma listed NAAT’s demands from the government to include the non-full implementation of the FGN/ NAAT 2009 Agreement; the government’s refusal to release enabling circular for the implementation of CONTISS 14 and 15 for Academic Technologists; and the non-payment of the arrears of Earned Allowances to its members.
Others include the non-conclusion of the FGN/ NAAT 2009 Agreement renegotiation; Non-provision of funds for upgrade of Public Universities’ Laboratories/ Workshops, Studios and farms; Inconsistencies of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) operations as well as the proliferation and poor funding of State Universities.
Agreements
NAAT also stated that it had reached certain agreements with the government before deciding to suspend the strike.
The latest agreement, according to the NAAT President, followed the union’s meeting with the tripartite committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The committee included the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris Ngige, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari.
NAAT said the meeting led to resolutions and commitment from the government to release enabling circulars for CONTISS 14 & 15 for Academic Technologists, payment of arrears of minimum wage or consequential adjustment, payment of occupational hazard allowances and the implementation of responsibility allowance.
“The Honourable Minister of Education agreed to do the necessary follow-up at the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to facilitate the release of the (CONTISS 14 & 15) Circular within the shortest possible time,” he said.
For the minimum wage and consequential adjustment, Mr Nwokoma said: “NAAT would submit a list of omitted members to the Executive Secretary of NUC, while the ES would request universities to submit their list of omitted staff that would be compared for accuracy before it would be forwarded to the Budget Office for verification and subsequent payment.
“It was resolved that the Seven (7) month arrears of Occupational Hazard Allowance owed NAAT members in Federal Universities would be processed and paid within three months.
“The Federal Ministry of Education will facilitate the implementation of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) Circular on Responsibility Allowance for members of NAAT.”
Government offers
NAAT also listed the offers from the government to include a 23.5 per cent salary increase across the board to all members of the four university-based unions –ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT– effective 1st September.
“NAAT accepted the offer in the interim,” he said.
He added that the government promised to pay N50 billion for earned allowances to all members of the four unions by January 2023, and N150 billion for revitalization in public universities, where the deficiencies in Labs/Workshops/Studios will be adequately compensated.
“Arising from these conciliatory efforts by the Government, resolution of the issues with specific timelines for implementation were reached,” said Mr Nwokoma.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
