Why we don’t allow NLC to negotiate for us in trade disputes ― ASUU

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has explained reasons the apex labour union in the country, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), will not be allowed to negotiate on its behalf in trade disputes.

Speaking at the national executive council (NEC) meeting of the Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), themed, “Results-Oriented Unionism in a democratic setting”, the ASUU chairman, University of Ilorin, Professor Moyosore Ajao, said that ASUU has no apology for any union leaders who wine and dine with the government.

We have peculiarities of our profession that the NLC might not fully understand and you cannot negotiate if you don’t know the peculiarities and the challenges of such association. Second, we’re not happy with the leadership of the NLC in some of the way and manner they have coordinated the affair of the union. So, ASUU has on its own have its leadership but we’re an affiliate of the NLC. We’ve never withdrawn our affiliate. We have our own leadership that deals with our own responsibilities.

“Every time we meet with the government for negotiation, NLC is always represented. But they can only come in as watching brief. I cannot come and negotiate your marriage and children with you when I am not part of the marriage but I can come as a moderator to ensure things are done normally. NLC cannot take the responsibility of the leadership of the ASUU to say they want to negotiate for it.

“ASUU can no longer trust leaders of the NLC who have sold out. Some of them are even richer than some governors. So, I have no apology for those who wine and dine with the government and share the national cake with political leaders. ASUU has no apology for that,” he said.

Professor Ajao, who argued that ASUU does not fight every successive government in the country, said that “we only challenge every government not to destroy the educational system of the nation.

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The chairman, ASUU Unilorin urged trade unions in the country to allow principle and ideas to be their watchword while demanding their rights from their employers, saying that members of unions should also desist from placing a premium on monetary gains of every agitation.

In his speech, the national president of the NUAHP, Dr Obinna Ogbonna, represented by the deputy national president (South), Comrade Victor Olusegun, said that members of the union faced greater risks of exposure, especially frontline and other essential service workers due to outbreak of the novel COVID-19.

“This has resulted in some infected cases and fatalities among health workers in the country,” he said, calling on governments to be more concerned about the welfare of the workers.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Why we don’t allow NLC to negotiate for us in trade disputes ― ASUU