By Adeleye Kunle
The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has said it expects the Federal Government to start making arrangements for payment of salary arrears for the four months their industrial action lasted.
NASU said since all parties within the University system have suspended their industrial actions, it behoves on government to start reviewing those hard stances it took while the tertiary institutions were under lock and key.
General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi made these remarks, on Wednesday, while fielding questions from reporters on the sidelines of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union in Abuja.
He said a moratorium given to the Federal Government which elapses by November 2022, should serve as a veritable opportunity for the government to sit down and begin to address the existing demands by the Unions, one of which is the salary arrears.
Adeyemi pointed out that under no circumstance would the government sweep the issue under the carpet, especially, when the government obliged the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) similar gesture after they suspended their two months strike.
Asked if the Federal Government is still disposed to offsetting the salary arrears, going by its initial stance of ‘no work, no pay’, Adeyemi said, “That is the next issue, you see they say that if there is a fire in the house, you, first of all, have to make sure that you are safe to put out the fire, if you get consumed in the fire, you can’t save anybody.
“Now the process of talking about unpaid salaries will start, and nobody will say the schools are closed, this is the ideal time to begin to appeal to those who have taken those hard stances and we believe that those hard stances were as a result of the fact that the schools were under lock and key.
“I have confidence as a union person that those salaries will be paid because it has been paid to the guys in the health sector, two months, this Minister of Labour and Employment facilitated the payment and he is still there, I am confident he will facilitate this payment”.
Dr Hassan Makolo, National President of NASU while corroborating Adeyemi’s position, said members of trade unions don’t just embark on strike to play to the gallery, contrary to the erroneous belief in the public.
According to him, a decision to call a strike does not come easy for Unionists, because it is done at great cost to their members and the unions.
He said, “Those who think it is easy to go on a strike should think of staying for four, five or more months without a salary or an income and think of what that does to the household of a breadwinner who is taking part in a strike without a salary, in terms of feeding, medicals, transportation, children school fees, aged parents and other relations to cater for as well as the landlord
