Veteran labour unionist warn ASUU over prolonged strike, advocates fragmentation of academic unions as panacea
A labour veteran Comrade Chief Ekong Effiom who is one of the signatories to September 7, 2004, a letter was written by senior staff of the umbrella body to President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Assembly over the Trade Union (Amendment) bill positing that the Nigeria Labour Congress should be de-registered if the labour movement was to be truly democratized so that the monopoly of workers representation on issues affecting all categories of workers could be broken has issued a warning to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to consider the plight of the students who have not been in classes for almost six months by accepting the federal government provision as a truce and go back to classes.
Chief Effiom who spoke to a LENS Reporter in Calabar on Sunday urged the Academic Staff Union of State Universities (ASUSU) to explore the path of collective bargaining as enshrined in the Trade Union Act whereby industrial disputes between the employee and employer are negotiated to arrive at acceptable terms as an alternative to resolving labour impasse so that students could go back to school to avoid their being used as political thugs in this milieu of national elections in the country.
He concluded by saying since ASUU has refused to embrace the two main paths to settling the dispute by rejecting multiple bilateral consultations with the government including the recent partial implementation of the 2009 agreement, it is time for the government to read the riot act to them or declare a state of emergency in the education sector by splitting Academic Staff Union of State Universities to provide an alternative to parents and students who want to go back to school.
Effiom however did not disclose the arm of the union he represented during the labour struggle for security reasons according to him but hailed SSANU, NASU and NAATS for accepting to go back to work among the striking university unions. He encouraged the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to heed the advice of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu to sue ASUU for refusing to resume teaching in the universities.
By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)
