The Joint Union of Academic Staff of the Plateau Owned Tertiary Institutions (JUASPTI) has threatened to go on strike action over non-payment of salaries and the failure of the government to honor the agreement it reached with the union.
The Chairman of the union, Comrade Lawam Debian disclosed this during a press conference in Jos and asked the government to honor its agreement.
He maintained that if the government fails to meet its demands, the union would on Dec. 31 declare an indefinite strike action.
”We signed an agreement with the government on Aug. 23, which led to the suspension of the strike we started on June 17.
”Unfortunately, the government had reneged in the agreement in the areas of non-implementation of promotion arrears from 2021 to 2022, non-implementation of third-party deduction from August to date and non-regular payment of salaries,” he said.
Deban said that the union had written two different letters to the state government dated Nov. 10 and Dec. 5, respectively, yet no positive response from it.
”Worried by the non-regular payment of salaries, we wrote the government two different letters where we clearly stated that we will not able to guarantee industrial harmony should it fail to comply with the agreement.
”But it is obvious that the state government does not want to toe the line of honour and as a union, we have given it enough consideration and respect, but it has failed to reciprocate by reneging on some aspects of the agreement.
”So, we shall be left with no option than to withdraw our services if the government fails to honour the Aug 23 agreement before Dec. 31,”he said.
However, members of JUASPTI consist of academic staff in all tertiary institutions owned by the Plateau government.
