Teachers Embark on Indefinite Strike by Frank Oke
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) Monday embarked on an indefinite industrial action following failure by the federal government to issue approval circular on the new Teachers Salary Scale (TSS).
In Lagos, pupils and students who went to school were seen going home as early as 8 O’clock as there were no teachers in sight to conduct the day’s teaching.
Teachers in the primary and secondary school had earlier embarked on a three-day warning strike two weeks ago, which opened way for negotiation between their executive and the government.But the negotiations appeared to have hit the rocks, with the government insisting that it will not issue the approval circular on the new salary scale because its implementation would impoverish some state governments.
Explaining government’s position on the issue, Mahmud Jinadu, executive secretary of National Commission for Colleges Of Education (NCCE), said: “Nigeria has a federal structure therefore the states have the right to decide what the they pay their teachers, especially as education fall under concurrent list.”
In calling out its members, the NUT said they are resuming the strike because the government reneged on the promise to issue an enabling circular creating the TSS.
According to Onem Nelson Onem, deputy national president of NUT, there will be no teaching, invigilation, or marking of internal and external examinations and no state of the federation is exempted from the union’s directive.
He said the teachers are aggrieved that the government has shown no respect for collective agreements arrived through negotiations having jettisoned the agreement it reached with the teachers along with state governments on the new salary only to propose another stakeholders parley.
Stakeholders have called on NUT to embrace dialogue to press home their demands, saying that they were justified in its fight for the implementation of TSS in view of the inflation rate in the country.
“It is a legitimate fight, but it is better to dialogue instead of embarking on strike. They have every right to go on strike to make their grievances known. We are experiencing inflation in the country and with inflation, other things come in.
‘’Inflation makes wages worthless and it affects the purchasing power and when the cost of living adjustment (COLA) is not built into salary structure in any place.
They also counselled the teachers to into consideration the financial strength of the states in asking for the implementation the TSS.
