Osun Lecturers, Non Academic Staff Suspend 4-month-old Strike

[Defender]

The battle between the Osun State government and lecturers in the state-owned tertiary institutions was on Tuesday night brought to an end, as the two parties signed agreement and memorandum of understanding.

While the non-academic staff members of the institutions had called-off their strike on Monday, the lecturers called-off theirs on Wednesday morning, following a meeting held with the state government.

The lecturers, at a meeting held with the national body of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), the state Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Institutions, (CASUOSTI) and the state government, embraced the state government's offer.

CASUOSTI Chairman, Mr. Jacob Jekayinoluwa, who announced the cancelation of the strike after the meeting said, "Crisis is part of life, but now that the issues have been resolved, we pledge our unalloyed support for the government of the state and we shall immediately resume to work."

According to the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere, who said that the academic workers accepted the 80 percent implementation offer of the Consolidated Polytechnic Colleges of Education Salary Structure (CONPOCASS) and seven percent Peculiar Academic Allowance payment, which they had rejected for weeks.

Akere said the new salary scale will take effect from July, 2011, adding that the 2011 Leave Bonus will be paid in accordance with the new salary structure.

He added that the state government and the lecturers have reached an agreement and that the industrial action that has grounded academic activities in the state-owned tertiary institutions has been brought to an end.

Akere maintained that the remaining 20 percent of the CONPOCASS would be implemented as soon as the resources and income of the state is able to accommodate it.

He then urged the lecturers and other civil servants in the state, to be patient with the government, urging them to contribute their quota to the development of the state.

The lecturers had on August 10, 2011, embarked on indefinite strike on their agitation for the implementation of CONPOCASS and other demands from the state government.

The agitation for the implementation of the CONPOCASS began early 2009, even as the ousted Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola failed to implement it.

Osun Defender