FUTO workers shelve planned strike
Staff of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), have shelved the planned indefinite industrial action billed to commence today over the slashing of their salaries to 70 percent.
Daily Times reports that the strike was called off following the proposed visit of the Pro-chancellor of the university, Prof John Ofem, to intervene in the matter.
Investigation revealed that the strike option has not been ruled out as unions only suspended the planned strike providing an initial time frame for a potential resolution of the issue as talks among the parties continue.
The workers were jolted in June when their salaries were slashed between 20 and 30 percent, a development the workers roundly rejected and demanded that the FUTO management source for fund to augment the June salary of its members on or before Monday July 24, 2017.
A source who pleaded anonymous told Daily Times that before the expiration of the strike ultimatum, the pro-chancellor invited the leadership of the unions to his home in Calabar to discuss potential solutions to the matter.
At a Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting of the three union the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the university— the staff said the halting of the planned strike action would only be temporary.
According to source, if their July salaries did not come 100 present, they would shut down the university irrespective of the outcome of the pro-chancellor’s visit pending when their salaries were paid in full.
The workers accused the pro-chancellor of being of insensitive to their plight, saying he as a father of the university should have rushed to the institution to quell the fire that was about being ignited rather than invite their leaders to his home in Calabar to discuss the issue.
They urged the unions leaders to ensure that the pro-chancellor defines his mission before 24 hours and warned that they would not be too patient if Prof. Ofem did not solve the problem after 24 hour of his visit.
At the meeting, chairman of JAC in FUTO, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma, flanked by Comrade Franklin C. Matthews and Comrade Alemoh Moses, chairmen of SSANU and NASU respectively urged their members to remain calm and wait for the pro-chancellor’s arrival.
They said going by the resolutions of the union members, they were only giving due regard to the Pro-chancellor by halting the planned strike action and that if their June salaries were not completed, the unions would take action, while any attempt to slash their July salaries would lead to the shutdown of the university.
They noted that all the federal universities in south east and south south regions of the country received and paid 100 percent salaries to their staff, insisting that FUTO would not be different.
Val Okara, Owerri
