By Amos Odeh, Yenagoa
The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) Federal Polytechnic of Ekowe, Bayelsa State, has embarked on strike over the suspension of check-off dues deduction for members of the union by the management of the institution from January to March 2025.
The leaders of the union who thronged the campus of the institution to prevent fellow workers from rendering services, also staged a peaceful protest to compel the management of the institution to enter a signed agreement with the union to lift the suspension of their check-off dues.
The protesting workers said that despite the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the management of the institution has maintain a persistent stance not to withdraw the earlier directive on stoppage
of Union dues deduction for NASU members.
Our reporter learnt that in a letter dated 6th February, 2025 and signed by the General Secretary of the national leadership of NASU, Prince Peller Adeyemi, the union advised management to resume the deduction of check-off dues for NASU members to avoid legal consequences.
Speaking to newsmen during the protest, the branch chairman of the union, Mr. Etebu Ebiyefe, explained that “the rector of the institution, Dr. Agbabiaka Adegoke, has been using our members for security and labour services, knowing that the Federal Government in 2012 contracted those services.
“There is fund made available for those contracts but he is using our members for the jobs that he paid to contract. N5 Million is coming as subvention from state government to the institution to pay for these services, yet he is still using our members for jobs he paid for.
“Our national secretariat wrote to inform him that the suspension of the deduction of check-off for our members is illegal, and that he has one week to meet with the national and state leadership of the union to resolve the issue, up till now he has not responded to that invitation.
“Instead rather called the branch leadership to a management meeting asking us to resolve issue within ourselves, and that by end of April 2025, he lift the suspension on the deduction of chech-dues. What about the arears. And it would be wrong for us to negotiate with him with the national and state leadership.
“He is also claiming that 42 persons wrote to him personally that they want to withdraw their membership from the union, and that that was the reason he suspended the remittance of our check-off dues.
“The national told him that the proper thing any member who wishes to withdraw his membership is to write the union and not the management of the institution. That is the constitutional thing to do, yet he went ahead to suspend the deduction of our check-off dues.
“What we know is that the national has given a directive that we should embark on this strike until he goes to Abuja and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the national, state and branch leadership of the union before this strike would be called off.
A management staff who pleaded anonymity said the decision to suspend the deduction of members the union was taken because management felt it was wrong for union to forcefully collect dues from people have pulled out.
He further said “when matter raised concerns, the unions met with management, it resolved that by the end of April 2025, the suspension will be lifted, both ASSUP and SSANIP but NASU rejected the offer on some grounds that we can handle in-house.
“If management has said, they would commence payment from April based on your agitations, we can do well to understand and watch it would be implemented before further issues can be raised.”
