ASUP to begin strike over unpaid salary arrears, others

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) on Friday threatened to embark on strike from April 6, over unresolved issues with the Federal Government and some states governments.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its 99th National Executive Council meeting in Katsina and signed by the President, Mr. Anderson Ezeibe, ASUP said the decision was to draw the government’s attention to the need to release the 10 months arrears of the new minimum wage owed its members in federal polytechnics across the country.

The union also urged some state governments to pay up arrears of the new minimum wage owed polytechnic lecturers in their states.

The communiqué read: “There is the need to implement the contents of the NEEDS Assessment report of 2014 in public polytechnics and similar institutions.

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“Another issue is the reconstitution of Governing Councils in all federal polytechnics and some state-owned polytechnics where such is yet to be constituted.

“Others are the full implementation of the provisions of the Federal Polytechnics Act as well as its domestication in Adamawa, Kano, Sokoto, Abia, Niger, and other affected states.”

ASUP demanded the release of salaries owed its members in Abia, Ogun, Osun, Benue, Plateau, Edo, and Cross River as well as the full payments of members’ salaries in Sokoto, Kaduna, Adamawa, and others.

The union appealed to the government to withdraw the letter containing unsubstantiated claims of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax liabilities in 19 federal polytechnics.

It also urged Kano and Kaduna governments to implement the 65 years retirement age for academic staff in tertiary institutions in their states.