An ASUU strike union dues as the federal government withholds them
The Federal Government failed to transfer the check-off dues it deducted from university professors’ November 2022 paychecks into the account of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, according to information obtained by The PUNCH.
A check-off due is the sum deducted from an employee’s pay in exchange for their membership in a union or other organization that fights for workers in a particular field.
The head of the ASUU branch at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Gbolahan Bolarin, acknowledged that the government had not sent the check-off dues for November in a chat with our correspondent in Abuja.
Despite the pro-rata salaries that were paid for the month of November, Bolarin stated: “The problem currently is that the account of ASUU was not credited. Those who received their pay slips noticed that check-off dues and cooperative dues were withheld.
“The government granted financing to the cooperatives but not to ASUU. Considering that you stated that you paid us pro rata, where did the check-off and cooperative dues come from? Why then wasn’t ASUU’s account credited despite the fact that the check-off dues were taken out? You failed to credit the union after deducting union dues from the source.
FG explains choice.
In a conversation with our correspondent, the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s spokesperson, Olajide Oshundun, defended the government’s choice about the check-off fees.
According to a clause in the Trade Union Act’s Section 37, Subsection 1, ASUU is required to provide an annual account of the funds it has sent to the body, according to Oshundun. Each month, ASUU receives a deduction from each member’s dues to fund the operation of their secretariat.
“They are also required to present an audited report of this money annually, but ASUU failed to do so for four straight years.
The audited report of funds collected for the past four years has not been filed, the ministry wrote to ASUU to inquire as to why. After receiving the letter, ASUU chose not to respond. They didn’t even acknowledge receiving the letter in writing. ASUU was then sent a letter of reminder, which was also ignored.
“Then the ministry ruled that ASUU should not get the check-off sum owed that had been withheld by IPPIS for November. The money held by IPPIS will therefore be released to them once they answer and justify how they utilized the released funds.
Bolarin, however, criticized the ministry’s stance over the audit report.
He ordered ASUU turn in the requested report.
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