Strike looms in OAU over 64-month unpaid allowances

Strong indications have emerged that workers of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, may soon close down the institution over unpaid allowance.

The workers, under the aegis of Non Academic Staff Union, OAU chapter, had started their protest with a warning strike penultimate Wednesday, alleging that they had not been paid their hazard allowances for 64 months.

When our correspondent visited the university’s campus on Friday, hundreds of students, members of staff and visitors were seen trekking from the school gate to lecture theatres.

The aggrieved workers had shut the school gate and other facilities, including the university senate building and library.

The Chairman of the NASU, OAU Chapter, Comrade Wole Odewunmi, on Saturday insisted that if the protest did not yield the desired result, the workers would embark on a strike.

He said, “After this, if the management refuses to respond to our demand, we will notify the management of our strike action. This is just a notification ahead of our strike action.

“We met with the pro-chancellor but his response does not suite us. After I took the report of the meeting to our members, they decided that we should make our agitation known to the management and the public.”

Odewunmi also accused the management of giving but refused pay them.

He said, “We are peace loving union among all the unions on campus. But this time around, the authorities want to term our gentility as stupidity and that was the reason we decided that we must protest. This is to enable the management know what is burning in our heart.

“For the past 64 months, we are owed hazard allowance and we have had several meetings that yielded no results. The two parties — government and management- keep pushing blames on one another.

“The school management are saying that they have not received any money but those at top positions are already enjoying some of those benefits but tagged it as responsibility allowance. They did not pay hazard allowance. How can they implement certain areas and leave the rest of the workers?”

Also, the President of the Students’ Union, Mr. Omotayo Akande, during a symposium, had told students of the institution that the school might be closed on Monday.

He explained that the closure might be necessary due to plans by NASU to shut power and water supply to the university on Sunday (today).

The students had earlier embarked boycotted lectures for one week in solidarity with the aggrieved NASU workers.