THE 5-month old industrial action embarked on by lecturers and non teaching staff in all tertiary institutions owned by the Osun State government, took a new turn as Governor Rauf Aregbesola is believed to have perfected move to sack workers suspected to be the arrow heads of the strike. Source informed Sunday Tribune that one of the commissioners very close to the governor had already drawn the list of recalcitrant workers who are seen as the mobilisers of the action. The development was said to have created apprehension among workers, not only in the institutions of higher learning, but also among some workers in the state secretariat. Lecturers and other non teaching staff at the Osun State Polytechnic (OSPOLY), Iree, Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun and Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, had down tools since February over the failure of the government to remit deductions from their contributory pension to accounts being managed by Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs). Other demands by the striking workers include the stoppage of high regime of tax introduced by the government and the extension of lecturers retirement age to 65 years, though the state House of Assembly, last Thursday, passed the bill extending the retiring age to 65 years. According to the source who pleaded anonymity, “the list of the suspected workers in some ministries and parastatals have been compiled. Some civil servants have been given queries on their alleged clandestine meetings with leaders of major opposition party in the state”. “About 42 lecturers and 34 members of the non teaching staff among the striking staffers in the tertiary institutions, will face stiff disciplinary challenges when their schools resume,” he hinted. While reacting to the matter, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Osun State, Mr Sunday Akere, described the alleged plan to sack or victimise any worker as untrue and baseless. He emphasised that “the government of Governor Rauf Aregbesola is masses-friendly and cannot contemplate to sack or punish anybody for being involved in a strike action. We are conscious of the fact that our workers have inalienable rights under the nation’s constitution to protest or embark on strike to pursue their demands. The major plank of their demand, which is 65 years retirement, has been addressed.”
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 10:26:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015