The Nigeria Union of
Teachers (NUT) in Cross River has said it will not join the ongoing Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) strike in the state.
The state NUT Chairman,
Mr Eyo Nsa-Etim, made this known at a symposium it organised in collaboration
with Bloom Consulting in Calabar on Friday.
Nsa-Etim, who is also the
state’s NLC Vice-Chairman, said that NUT was not invited for the meeting where
civil servants were directed to go on strike by NLC and TUC on Oct. 2.
`` The state government
is trying to solve labour problems in the state. We believe that the state
government ought to have been given a little time to respond to the issues
raised by NLC and TUC.
``Also for now, we are
totally not involved in the strike. We have some programmes at hand and if we
join them in the strike now, we cannot celebrate the World Teachers’ Day coming
up on Oct. 5.
``We may join along the
way, but I think the present government is still new and deserves some time to
put things in order.
``Their reasons for the
strike is that government had failed to pay promotion arrears, no promotion of
civil servants, no release of deductions from salaries, no funding of
ministries, department and agencies, among others,’’ he said.
The NUT chairman said
organised labour took the action to embark on strike without informing the
state’s NUT.
``We cannot take part in
what we did not originate. NLC and TUC should have given the government a
little time before embarking on strike,’’ Nsa-Etim said.
According to him, the
arrears being demanded are incurred by the previous administration.
The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports that the symposium was organised to celebrate teachers
for their role in moulding the character and development of children. (NAN)
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