Workers of Plateau tertiary institutions give conditions to end strike

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Workers of Plateau tertiary institutions give conditions to end strike

The Joint Union of Plateau State-Owned Tertiary Institutions has vowed to continue with its on-going strike until the state government addressed unresolved demands.

Chairman of the union, Mr Sunoe Longbam, gave the condition at a news conference on Friday in Jos.

He said government had breached numerous agreements reached with the union in the past, hence the rationale for the on-going industrial action.

“As you are all aware, workers of Plateau State-owned tertiary institutions have been in strike for the past two weeks as a result of breach of signed agreement with government on lingering issues.

“As a matter of fact, till this moment, none of those agreements have been honoured by government.

“We are also worried by the manner with which government agencies and departments are attending to our issues.

“A situation where our reminders and notices are not responded to by the government calls for concern.

“It in the light of these that we are compelled to call this news conference.

“It is to inform the public about our lingering unresolved issues in order to put the records straight and let everybody know that until our demands are met, the strike will continue,’’ he said.

Longbam said that some of the issues revolve around non-release of 25 per cent of Treasury Single Account funds amounting to N460 million to tertiary institutions and the non-implementation of peculiar allowance as contained in earlier agreements.

Others are non-payment of pension arrears to its retired members for 24 months, reconsolidation of salary structure of tertiary institutions and continuous withholding of salary deductions of members by government.

The chairman called for support and cooperation of parents and members of the public in the union’s bid to salvage tertiary education in the state from total collapse.