Tomorrow’s strike will be total, comprehensive —Varsity workers

VARSITY workers will begin a nationwide strike tomorrow over the issue of Earned Allowances, sacked workers of university staff schools and other issues affecting their members and the university system.

President of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and chairman of Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU, Samson Ugwoke, told Sunday Tribune on Saturday that the strike would start tomorrow.

Ugwoke pointed out that already, their members have been mobilised, while all the non-teaching staff in the university system across the federation have been directed to stay at home from Monday.

 Varsity workers begin strike Monday

The SSANU president, who said the strike would be “comprehensive and total,” however, said it would last for five days, from Monday to Friday, to serve as a warning to the Federal Government.

“Yes, the strike will start on Monday, and it will be comprehensive and total. It will last for five days, Monday to Friday. To ensure its success, we have already mobilised all our members and they have been directed to stay away from work from Monday,” Ugwoke told Sunday Tribune.

The unions, under the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU, had issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet their demands or face a nationwide strike.

The unions said the strike had become imperative as the government failed to response to their demands.

In a circular issued after the JAC meeting penultimate Thursday and sent to all their branches, the unions warned that at the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum, they would be left with no other option than withdrawing their services and closing down the universities if the government fails to address all their grievances.

Entitled: “Notice of Industrial Action,” the circular, which was signed by Ugwoke and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, lamented the nonchallant attitude of the Federal Government towards addressing their grievances and obeying court judgment.

The circular read: “That a 14-day ultimatum of industrial action be given to the Federal Government to address the pending issues with effect from Monday, August 5, 2019. During the period of the ultimatum, all branches are hereby directed to carry out peaceful protest on Tuesday, August 6, 2019 and Thursday, August 15, 2019.

“At the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum, Sunday, August 18, 2019, without any positive response from the Federal Government, members shall proceed on a five-day warning strike in all branches from Monday 19 to Friday 23 August, 2019, inclusive.

“You are, therefore, directed to properly mobilise our members for this action. All defaulting branches shall be sanctioned accordingly.”