Former Presidential Aide, Sen. Ita Enang, has called on the Federal Government to take the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to court for contempt for demanding unpaid salaries among other demands.
Enang, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), made this known in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said ASUU’s demand contravened a court order obtained in 2023, which stated that the union was not entitled to salaries while on strike.
ASUU had proceeded on strike on Oct. 13 to press some of its demands regarding staff welfare, including funding and autonomy of the universities.
“They are going on strike to compel federal government to disobey court order.
If you want to go on strike, you have to agree that under the law, which governs you, you forfeit your salaries for the period.
In the US and the UK, there is a Strike Fund, the money that the union pays members from during strike because at such periods they are not entitled to salaries from their employers.
My advice to ASUU is to call off the strike and go back to work while they continue negotiations with the Federal Government.
The middle ground is for the federal government and ASUU to know that the same responsibility the federal government owes to it as a trade union and employees is the same responsibility that the federal government owes to the students.
The innocent students whose academic calendar and academic life have been truncated and prejudiced.
So, the academic staff union should know that those who want to go on strike should be prepared to lose their salary according to law and they should read the judgment.
Particularly paragraph two in that judgment because in that judgment one of the things we claimed was that the period that the workers were on strike should not be counted,” he said.
According to Enang, all issues raised by ASUU have been addressed by the Ministry of Education and the Federal Government, questioning the basis for the fresh strike and insisting that it constitutes contempt of court.
He referenced relevant sections of the International Labour Organisation, supporting the lack of salaries for workers who embark on strike.
Enang said the Federal Government’s “no work, no pay” directive aligns with domestic and international labour laws, stressing that paying striking workers would amount to contempt of court.
“The question we asked the court was to interpret the provisions of Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, Capt. 8, Laws of the Federation. It is titled Special Provisions with Respect to Payment of Wages During Strikes and Lockouts, specifically dealing with the rights of employers and employees during the period of any strike or lockout,” he added.
“I have listened to the statement by Dr Alausa, the Minister of Education, saying that the Vice-Chancellors should not pay the salaries and that they should honour the policy of no work, no pay.
I want to urge the Minister that he doesn’t need to do that, but should rather charge ASUU for contempt of Court,” he maintained.
(NAN)