The authorities of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) have asked the national body of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) to immediately withdraw the directive given to its members at FUNAAB to proceed on a one-week warning strike beginning from Monday.
The university in a statement made available on Sunday by the Registrar, Dr Bola Adekola, said its attention has been drawn to a circular and news report credited to the national body of NASU directing members at the FUNAAB branch to proceed on a one-week warning strike over issues that are strictly FUNAAB matters.
The university said it is not only that there is nothing on the ground to warrant NASU-FUNAAB going on strike, but it’s also grossly illegal for the national body of NASU to declare strike for FUNAAB members nor for any of its branches over issues that are strictly concerning branches.
The university said for NASU national body to have done so for members at FUNAAB even without bringing those issues mentioned for taking such a decision before the management is an affront and a total violation of the rule of law and extant procedures for strike declaration by any trade union anywhere globally.
The university said even at that, some of the issues raised by NASU national for directing its FUNAAB members to embark on a warning strike, particularly the ones that bother the promotion of the leader and discipline meted out on some members, who were accused of violating the rules of the university in 2019 are before the Federal Court of Appeal, Ibadan for adjudication.
So, to now resort to strike on the same issues, according to the university, is nothing but self-help and ultra vires.
The university, therefore, advised NASU-FUNAAB members to ignore the directive of the national body so as not to put the university in any unnecessary crisis.
It said any attempt to disrupt the smooth and peaceful operations of the university particularly now that normally just returned to various campuses in the public universities in the country would not do FUNAAB any good.
The university also advised NASU national body to come to the university to find out the true position of things with its FUNAAB members and not to just act on issues that are inconsequential on the basis of unionism.
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