The shutdown of Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe in Bayelsa by the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) has persisted for nine days, following a face-off between workers and the institution’s management over deductions of union dues.
Union leaders said the institution would remain under lock until the rector and the governing council chairman are removed to pave the way for the face-off to be resolved.
NASU had shut down the institution on July 11 over withheld June salaries and the non-remittance of four months’ union dues of its members.
The aggrieved workers locked up the institution’s liaison office in Yenagoa, the main campus at Ekowe, and the rector’s residence in Yenagoa.
The management of the polytechnic released the withheld June salary of NASU members on Thursday but failed to remit the outstanding union dues.
Etebu Ebifiye, NASU chairman in the polytechnic, told journalists that the non-remittance of union dues was a breach of labour laws and a threat to industrial harmony.
Mr Ebifiye said the rector directed the payment of the withheld salary without remitting check-off dues for June in addition to January, February, March, and April 2025, which triggered an industrial action in the institution.
He explained that although the rector had called for a truce to end the industrial action, only a reversal of the four-month check-off dues and removal of the rector would make the workers shift grounds and unlock the institution.
“We have been occupying the polytechnic’s liaison office in Yenagoa since July 11. The rector had tried in vain to use force to disperse us by making a false report that we were vandalising the polytechnic’s facilities.
“Armed security men in four vans came to forcefully open the gates, but when they saw no sign of vandalism, they left. We cannot resort to vandalising property left in our care. It is our property, and we are poised to protect and not vandalise.
“We have occupied this place and kept vigil here until the check-off dues are restored; we go nowhere. The rector has called me and I told him our stand. We are waiting for him to act, and we unlock the gates,” the labour leader said.
Mr Ebifiye noted that NASU members were tacitly denied promotion as their appraisal forms were not endorsed.
He said, “The rector is not worker-friendly; he has demonstrated that he lacks the capacity to run the institution. What he did is an attempt to kill the union, and we will not succumb to his whims and caprices; we shall ensure that we fight till he is removed from office.
“He directed all the heads of departments and the deans that NASU members should not be appraised, a decision that affects the career progress of hundreds of our members
“As long as NASU members are excluded from the promotion, we will make sure that the promotion exercise doesn’t hold here.”
However, in his reaction, Nimizuo Pereseigha, the polytechnic’s spokesperson, said the management remains committed to a peaceful resolution of the dispute through dialogue.
He explained that NASU leadership has been rebuffing management’s attempts to discuss and resolve the labour crisis.
“The management got reports from the workforce that some workers have their union dues remitted to unions they do not belong to. Some workers also got upgraded, for instance, from non-academic to academic cadre, and their union dues still go to NASU, whereas they now belong to the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics ASUP).
“To resolve this, the management asked the three unions we have here to have their members update their membership status and endorse consent forms.
“Out of three unions, ASUP, NASU, and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), ASUP and SSANIP complied and submitted consent forms to validate their memberships, but NASU refused to comply.
“Consequently, management deducted union dues for the two unions that regularised the status of their members, and for NASU members, 100 per cent of their salaries were paid without deduction of the two per cent union dues,” Mr Pereseigha said.
On the alleged exclusion of NASU members from promotion, Mr Pereseigha stated that while NASU members were on strike, members of other unions completed and submitted their performance assessment forms, only to turn around and blame the rector, Lukman Adegoke, for a process concluded while they were on strike.
Mr Pereseigha noted that the management, as part of efforts to resolve the dispute, has asked NASU members to fill and submit their appraisal forms to participate in the promotion exercise, but they have yet to respond.
He said a reconciliation meeting has been scheduled for Sunday evening to chart a way out of the crisis.
NAN
