The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, Bayelsa State, has begun a strike over the suspension of union dues deduction by the management of the institution since January 2025.
Leaders of the union who gathered in their numbers at the institution’s campus to prevent fellow workers from rendering services, also staged a peaceful protest to compel the management of the institution to lift the suspension of union dues deduction.
The protesting workers said that despite the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the institution’s management has maintained a persistent stance not to reverse the suspension of union dues deduction.
It was learnt that in a letter dated February 6, 2025, and signed by the General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peller Adeyemi, the union advised the management of the polytechnic 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 NASU, Mr. Etebu Ebiyefe, explained that “the Rector of the institution, Agbabiaka Adegoke, has been using our members for security and labour services, knowing that the federal government in 2012 contracted those services out.
“There is fund made available for those contracts but he is using our members for the jobs that he paid to contract.
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“N5 million is coming as subvention from the 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, he called the branch leadership to a management meeting, asking us to resolve the issue within ourselves, and that by the end of April 2025, he would lift the suspension on the deduction of check-off dues.”
A management staff member who pleaded anonymity said the decision to suspend the deduction of union dues was taken because management felt it was wrong for the union to forcefully collect dues from people who have pulled out from the union.
He further said: “When the matter raised concerns, the union met with management, it resolved that by the end of April 2025, the suspension will be lifted.
“Both ASSUP and SSANIP agreed, 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 whether it would be implemented before further issues can be raised.”
