The Joint Union, Academic Staff of Plateau state-owned Tertiary Institutions (JUAPSTI) has agreed to suspend the strike after three months following its meeting with government officials.
By the development therefore, lectures are set to commence on Monday at Plateau State Polytechnic.
Chairman of the Union, Dabam Lawam, confirmed the suspension of the strike in the seven tertiary institutions in the state on Wednesday.
Lawam, who is a lecturer with the College of Arts Science and Technology (CASTECH), Kurgwi in Quan-Pan Local Government Area of the state told TheNewsGuru, “Yes, it is true that all the seven tertiary institutions in the state that have been on strike since June have agreed to suspend the strike.
In his words, “We met with state government officials including the state Head of Service and the Permanent Secretary Establishment on Tuesday and they signed an agreement on behalf of the government before we agreed to suspend the strike.
“It is now left for the management of the various tertiary institutions to fix their date of resumption but our members are ready to start work because we have suspended the strike.
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“During the negotiation, we presented five issues and the government has agreed to implement them including our demand for the consolidation of our salary structure, implementation of staff promotions, stoppage of illegal deductions from our salaries, and the issue of non-remittance of third-party deductions as well as recruitment of staff to cater for the large students’ populations among others.
“We are aware of the attitude of the government in reneging with the agreement in the past but we decided to give them the benefits of the doubt this time.
“Any time we discover insincerity on the part of the government towards the implementation of the agreement, we will have no option than to resume the strike.”
Rector of Plateau State Polytechnic, John Dawan who also confirmed the development said he has directed the Registrar of the Polytechnic to put up a memo asking the students to return to the campus immediately.
He said the institution doesn’t want to waste further time after the union members have called off their strike, but stated that lectures will start in the instruction from Monday.
The Plateau state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) had in June 2022 declared an indefinite strike alongside six other tertiary institutions in the state over issues bordering on their welfare.