•We’re looking into it, says school
Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU AOCOED) has suspended its strike following Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s approval of 65 years as retirement age for teachers.
This development followed a meeting at Alausa, Ikeja, with representatives of the government and AOCOED Governing Council Chairman, Prof Tunde Samuel.
However, the union said it was giving management a 30-day ultimatum (January 10 to February 9) to resolve other two outstanding issues of 53.37 per cent implementation allowances, as well as vacancy returns on their members.
At a briefing at the union secretariat, COEASU AOCOED Chairman, Mr Olufemi Ige, reiterated Samuel’s promise to reolve the issues within the stipulated time.
Ige said with the retirement age already addressed, the government directed the management to take care of the issues.
Going down memory lane, Ige recalled that that there was a circular from the Federal Government in 2000 mandating teaching staff of polytechnics and colleges of education to retire at 65.
He said the union pushed for same until it was approved in 2004 under the immediate past administration.
“We saw the circular in 2002 and wrote to management and also forwarded the same document to (Governing) Council and it was approved in September 22, 2004.
“But no one suspected that the approval was not gazetted since our members did not get to that 65 years until 2009-2010 when they started retiring and getting their retirement benefit up to 2014-2015. But those who started retiring from 2015 will need about a year after to start accessing their benefits, and that was when we got to know that management has not started implementing it.
Ige lamented that the preceding executive made frantic efforts to have the scenario reversed to no avail.
AOCOED-COEASUembarked on the strike that lasted two weeks before joining the national strike, which began on September 27 but was called off on Wednesday, December 6.
The union also lamented that their colleagues who had retired in the last five years or more could not access their retirement benefits.
“That is why this fight is so big to us,” Ige added.
On the vacancy returns, a former COEASU national president , Mr Sam Akindele, said management action was tantamount to adopting a quota system.
“As far as we are concerned, that vacancy means quota.
“You don’t introduce quota system in the promotion of academic staff. The watchwords in the academia are merit and excellence. We are not asking for appointment, but promotion of our members on the basis of merit. Let our members tender their papers and whoever deserves to be promoted should be given what is due to him or her.
“Imagine, our Condition of Service is still handwritten after so many years. That shows how old the document is, and the only clause the management could dig out from it is the quota thing,’’. he said.
Ige was accompanied by four other executives Lazarus Gift Nneka (Vice), Alagbe Akeem (Director of Socials), Funmi Oyesiku (Financial Secretary), and Mr Sunday Adeleke (Treasurer),
Similarly, the former chairmen COEASU AOCOED Dr Victor Akinola and Mrs Adeyemi Adesanya, said the union had been tolerant all the while, but was being pushed to the brink.
“AOCOED COEASU has been known to be peace loving. We always believe we should explore all avenues for conflict resolution. However, management has pushed us to the brink. We did not intend to drag the matter but mabagement showed a great deal of insensitivity.
“We do not wish to be labelled as a rebel or perceived as being used by the opposition.
“Our predecessor had repeatedly written management asking if AOCOED was the poorest when other Lagos State-owned tertiary institutions had commenced payment several years ago,” they added.
The college’s Public Relations Officer Mrs Adeyinka Oshinaiwo told The Nation that management was very much aware of the request.
“I want to inform you that the management is already aware and is addressing their (COEASU) requests,” Oshinaiwo said in a message sent to The Nation.
Leave a Reply