The Non-Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASUP), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) Ikorodu Chapter, on Monday protested against alleged de-migration of their salary structure.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the placard-carrying non-teaching staff marched in their hundreds around Ikorodu campus of the polytechnic, chanting solidarity songs.
Some of the inscriptions read: “No To De-migration”, “Sogunro Uses Ambode to Disrupt LASPOTECH”, “No To Strangulation of Unions”, among others.
The union shut all offices, while facilities such as electricity and water were disconnected.
The non-teaching staff were also supported by sister unions such as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP).
Mr Akinlawon Fasasi, NASUP-LASPOTECH Chairman, said the union was demanding a reversal in the alleged de-migration of the salary structure of the union’s members from CONTISS 15.
Fasasi said that the alleged migration by the polytechnic’s rector was against the pronouncement by the Lagos State deputy governor and court’s directive.
“The Rector, Mr Samuel Sogunro, had said he would reverse the salary structure this January and information reaching us from the salary and wages unit is that he has actually done so.
We learnt that our staff, both academic and non-academic, from the chief lecturers down to the junior staff have been demoted.
Furthermore, if the newly crafted salary structure is allowed to thrive we may be earning stipends monthly,” he said.
According to the NASUP chairman, the CONTISS salary structure is a unified salary structure for Nigeria workers established since 2009 and approved by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE).
Fasasi said that the structure was a right for the polytechnic workers to enjoy.
He said that the rector had claimed that the institution implemented the CONTISS 15 migration in 2016 under duress from the unions, despite the fact that arrears of about 89 months were still unpaid.
“The rector has continued to demote, sack, harass, interdict, degrade a number of our staff who participated in the struggle that led to the migration in 2016.
We also got reliable information that the names of about 29 staff have been penciled down to be sent to the staff disciplinary committee where they act out script written by the rector,” he alleged.
The NASUP Official stressed that the protest would continue daily and would proceed to the Government House, Alausa, if the issues were not addressed.
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Reacting, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, the LASPOTECH Spokesman, told NAN that the management did not de-migrate its staff as claimed but was only correcting a realignment of the salary structure as directed by the state government.
Kuye said the need for the alignment arose because the polytechnic’s management was forced by the unions to implement the migration in 2016, adding that the document presented for implementation did not emanate from the NBTE.
The State government later realised that the document did not emanate from the NBTE after writing to NBTE Headquarters in Kaduna, and following the revelation they wrote the polytechnic through its governing council that the correction be effected.
The correction is the realignment of the salary structure and that is what we have done. This means any staff paid wrongly will be placed rightly and if any has been short paid, it will be rectified.
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Unfortunately, most people were overpaid and the correction has been effected,” he said.
The spokesman said the protest was not necessary because the rector had summoned the staff and addressed them on the state government’s decision before the realignment was implemented.
Kuye, however, promised that the matter would be resolved, as the management was in a meeting deliberating on the issue.
He assured that normalcy would soon be restored. (NAN)
