PEOPLES GAZETTE
The National Industrial Court on Tuesday declared legal the federal government’s position of “no work, no pay” against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Delivering the judgement, Justice Benedict Kanyip declared that ASUU was not entitled to salary during the period it embarked on strike.
The court, in addition, held that in line with section 43(1a) of the Trade Dispute Act (TDA) ASUU, members who participated in the eight months strike were not entitled to salaries.
“Although employers and workers can enter an agreement for which the workers will be paid during the period of a strike action when such agreement was not made, no worker is expected to get paid.”
Mr Kanyip declared that the federal government and the Minister of Education, the claimants in the suit, were wrong to pray for the court to impose sanctions on ASUU for embarking on a peaceful strike.
The judge termed it as a gross violation of their right to freedom of association as stipulated by the International Labour Organisation’s ( ILO) jurisprudence.
“There is nothing before the court to prove that ASUU was not peaceful during the strike,” the judge said. “No employee should be victimised or sanctioned for embarking on a peaceful strike.”
The court also held that the claimants could not force ASUU to accept payment of its members’ salaries through Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) so long as they confirm their budgetary allocation…
