Endless Season of Strike in the Education Sector

There appears to be no end to the
ongoing strike embarked upon by
unions in the education sector, as
industrial action is crippling the
sector, Linda Eroke writes
For the education and the oil and gas
sectors, the second and third quarter of
the year 2013 began on a negative note,
in view of high incidence of strike that
have paralysed activities and slowed
down growth in the nation’s economy.
Of greater concern is the ongoing
industrial action embarked upon by
unions in the education sector over the
failure by government to fulfil its own
part of the Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA) entered with the
concerned unions.
It is instructive to note that these
strikes have been brewing for some
years, being fallout of the federal
government’s non-implementation of
some key clauses in the agreement that
it entered into with the unions.
For, instance two of the workers’ unions
in polytechnics (ASUP and SSANIP) have
been on strike for over two months with
no sign of the strike coming to an end as
government has not shown any
commitment to negotiate with the
unions.
The unions are protesting the non-
implementation of agreement reached
with government since 2009 as well as
the near collapse of polytechnic
education.
Similarly, the Nigeria Union of Teachers
(NUT) has since June 1 been on a sit-at-
home strike in the states where the
Teachers’ Peculiar Allowance (TPA) has
not been implemented. While the strike
has been suspended in some states, it is
still on in others.
The latest strike is the one embarked
upon by the leadership of the Academic
Staff Union of Nigerian Universities
(ASUU) over the non-implementation of
some key clauses in its memorandum of
understanding that government entered
into with the lecturers in 2009.
Notable amongst the said clauses is that
dealing with the “Academic Earned
Allowance (AEA)” which the federal
government agreed to be paying the
lecturers. The allowances are for excess
work load, high carriage of student per
lecturer, responsibility allowance ranging
from administrative responsibility borne
by lecturers, etc.
The central demands of the ASUU, apart
from pay increase, also boil down to the
need to revamp university education in
Nigeria.
The leadership of the union had
explained that it has been forced to
embark on indefinite strike by the non-
compliance of government to
implement agreements; having tried
severally and unsuccessfully to get the
government to fulfill its promises.
When one looks at the issue of
industrial harmony in the country, the
question that comes to mind is why is
the nation having an unusual high
incidence of strike in this environment?
The indefinite closure of the education
sector has continued to elicit concern
from various stakeholders which view
the industrial action as an ill wind which
itself does the country no good.
To stem this tide, stakeholders in the
labour industry have charged
government to act responsively by
honouring agreement that it has signed.
They also advised government to
develop a professional arm that would
assist it in negotiating with the unions.
“Whether in the civil service and the
ministry of labour, we need a crop of
professionals that will assist in
negotiation with the unions at an
ongoing basis, and those that have been
so chosen should be empowered to do
that based on the ability of the state”,
they stressed.
Secondly, the unions have been urged
to up their game in terms of leading the
values of true collective bargaining,
which stretches the imperative of giving
dialogue a chance before embarking on
strike. There is a law of the land that
stipulates on how the unions can go
about their industrial action but industry
watchers say the laws are not respected
by parties in industrial dispute.

Call for Dialogue

For instance, the Trade Union Congress
of Nigeria (TUC), while expressing
concern at the lingering industrial
dispute between unions in the sector
and government, warned that it would
be a disservice to posterity if “we fold
our arms and watch haplessly while
strikes cripple the education sector”.
The Congress specifically frowned on
the manner in which government fail to
honour agreement four years after it
was signed with the lecturers of tertiary
institutions.
President of TUC, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama,
emphasised that the disruption of the
academic calendar has the potential of
causing unwholesome impact on the
nation, stressing that no nation does
better than the level of education of its
people would permit.
He called on government to engage all
the striking workers in a dialogue to
resolve the issues at stake and give
room for a more conducive and
optimally-productive working
environment.
Government, he pointed out, must take
decisive action that would meet the
legitimate needs and expectations of
ASUU and ASUP.
At the same time, he urged the
concerned parties to consider the
adverse effects that the strike has on
parents/guardians of the students, as
well as the students themselves who
might be forced to spend extra years in
school.
“We urge President Goodluck Jonathan
not to rely solely on reports from
people in his cabinet who might never
tell him the truth about the situation at
hand. From one side of their lips they
tell us that Nigeria has a robust and
strong economy and from the other side
they tell us that from October, 2013 the
government may have problems paying
workers’ salaries/allowances.
“Something is definitely wrong
somewhere. If nothing is wrong there is
no reason why an agreement that was
signed in 2009 with stakeholders in the
tertiary institutions is yet to be
honoured four years after. This is not
only preposterous but also has a
devastating and fatal consequence on
the sanctity of contract,” he said.

NLC Intervention

Also blaming government for the
ongoing strike in the education sector,
the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said
the strike was completely avoidable, but
made inevitable by the federal
government’s insensitivity and penchant
for reneging on agreements.
The Congress said it was completely
unacceptable for government to
implement agreements it willingly
entered into.
The NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar,
argued that the issues articulated by
ASUU were not self-serving but tenable,
valid and germane to the sustenance of
a qualitatively viable education system.
According to him, these issues include:
the lingering crisis at the Rivers State
University of Technology (RSUST); the
continued violation of the rights of the
re-engaged 49 academics at the
University of Ilorin; the non-release of
the White Paper on Special Visitation to
the University of Abuja; and the parlous
state of the economy and government’s
disregard for its agreements.
He noted that the violations at RSUST
and Unilorin hurt academic ethics and
culture as well as infringed on human
rights of specific parties and was
therefore not acceptable.
The Congress, he added, is saddened by
the fact that government always find
money to service its insular political
interests, but never enough for
education, stressing that the rot and the
decay in the education system calls for
an urgent intervention.
To this end, he called on government to
declare a state of emergency in
education and review its economic
policies that will not only be productive,
but are job and development-oriented.
“Government does not expect that its
serial acts of breach or impunity will go
un-protested. The crisis in the education
sector with multiplier effects ought to
worry the government. Rather than join
issues with ASUU, it should collaborate
with it as a partner. None of these
issues is new, thus no reasonable person
could accuse ASUU of impatience or not
following due process before going on
strike.
“We equally align ourselves with ASUU
on its position on the economy;
economic growth without jobs or
development is nothing. In the light of
the foregoing, Congress wishes to call
on the government: immediately end
this strike action by implementing the
agreements it entered into with ASUU,
declare a state of emergency in
education, as no nation grows without
education,” Omar said.

Flaying Warring Parties
Joining labour in the call by government
to put an end to the incessant strike in
the country, the Director General,
Nigeria Employers Consultative
Association (NECA), Dr. Segun
Oshinowo, said “We are undermining
the productive potential of our country
if we cannot guaranty industrial
harmony. Industrial is equivalent to
social harmony which is extremely
important for promoting productivity
and economic growth. This is because
strike simply amounts to loss of
productive hours”.
Oshinowo stressed the need for
government to call a meeting of the
social partners to find out what is wrong
with the social system.
The NECA DG, who blamed government
for not acting responsively in terms of
honouring agreements it signed with
the unions, said: “When you look at the
root cause of some of these strikes, you
will discover that government has part
of the blame. Why should government
sign an agreement that it will not be
able to implement? In industrial
relations, we are all familiar with the
concept of sanctity of collective
agreement. Once you have signed an
agreement, you are bound by that
agreement.
“First, government will have to stop
signing an agreement which it cannot
implement. If it does not have the
means to implement such agreement let
the unions know and confine yourself to
those things that you can honour rather
than just put pen on paper in order to
get temporary peace when you know
very well that two, three years down
the line, you will not be able to
implement such agreement”.
He also blamed the unions for refusing
to allow the rules of collective
bargaining take its course before
embarking on strike.
He said: “There are rules of
engagement, why should strike be the
first resort? It is supposed to be the last
resort. Why don’t the unions give
dialogue a chance, why don’t you give
the dispute resolution machinery a
chance before you trigger the last
resort, which will be strike? So, we need
to really look at those basic issues if we
are to stem the tide of high incidence of
strike in this environment”.

General Strike Call
Meanwhile, calls have been made to the
two labour centres to mobilise Nigeria
workers for a general strike and mass
protest to save the education sector
from an imminent collapse.
Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), said the
strike actions by the  education workers’
unions on the parlous state of education
in the country places the burden on the
leadership of the two labour centres to
come to the centre stage in the struggle
to save education from collapse.
The group, in a statement issued by its
National Chairperson, Segun Sango,
pointed out that the waves of strikes in
the country have shown the inability of
the “capitalist ruling elite” to deploy the
wealth of the society for the benefit of
the working people and the society as a
whole.
“The leadership of the labour movement
must rise to initiate the united mass
movement of education workers,
students and youth by calling a full-
blown 48-hour general strike with mass
protests against attacks on education
and police brutality. In calling a 48 hour
general strike, the leadership of the
labour movement would step up the
pressure on government to meet their
demands as against the grave silence it
has maintained to the demands of the
unions,” the group stated.