The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Lagos State University (LASU) Chapter, on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction at the position of the institution’s management on the union’s three-month-old strike.
The Chairman of the chapter, Mr Saheed Oseni, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the union on Jan.7 received a memorandum from the management in which it claimed ignorance of the strike.
NAN reports that SSANU had on Sept. 30, 2013 embarked on strike over alleged `no-vacancy- no-promotion’ policy of LASU.
The union is also aggrieved with an increase in the university’s tuition.
Oseni said, “It is disheartening for the management to claim that it has just been brought to its notice that some SSANU members were not on their duty posts.
“The publication of the university is insincere and oppressive.
“The union, before the commencement of its strike on Sept.30, had duly notified the management in writing.”
Oseni said that the state government, through its representatives, headed by the Commissioner for Establishment, had also met with the management and the union on two occasions in November, 2013.
“How can this same management claim ignorance of our strike when we both met with the state government and we have been out of duty for three months?
“The state government has even appealed to us to resume, but we insist on receiving the resolution of the meeting we had with the government representatives, so that we can have a document to refer to in the future,” he said.
Oseni said that the union members had agreed not to call off the strike until all their demands were met.
“SSANU members did not agree to yield to any threat from the management by writing any letter or calling off the strike until they receive the resolution,” he said.
Oseni urged the management to refrain from directing SSANU members to resume work.
He said that the management should rather appeal to the state government to release the resolution.
“Our strike followed a due process; nobody can subject us to any victimisation because this is a university and not a barrack,” Oseni said.
In his reaction, Mr Sola Fasodu, the LASU Acting Director of Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations Unit, said that the management had done all it could to resolve the conflict.
