Posted by The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, has expressed regret over the deplorable state of the public university classrooms that lecturers are returning to following the strike’s eight-month hiatus.
One of the longest labor actions by the union, the ASUU’s strike from February 14 to October saw the federal government withhold their wages in accordance with the “No Work, No Pay” policy.
Osodeke claimed during a Channels TV interview that the strike was called off out of respect for the law even though there was no written agreement between them and the federal government.
We are obeying court orders because we are a law-abiding union, as you can see from our news release announcing the suspension of the strike.
No contract was ever signed. We anticipate that the Speaker of the House of Representatives’ intervention will address all pertinent problems.
He added that teachers are unhappy about being required to return to the classroom while indigent and owing loans.
“How can members be content when they were essentially forced to return to work without their demands being satisfied and their difficulties being resolved?
Negotiation is the best course of action in situations like this, but it was not used.
People are not railroaded in that manner. Our members are willing to go and teach, but it can be difficult to persuade a man who is starving, in debt, and owes loans to banks because his pay was not paid to enjoy teaching, the man added.