Workers of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State, have shut down the institution’s campus and declared an indefinite strike, following the alleged refusal of the school’s management to implement a reviewed scheme that will bring them some financial succour.
The workers, who protested on Monday under the aegis of the Non Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics of the institution, accused the management of being insensitive to their plights. The protest grounded academic and other activities on the campus, as the workers carried placards bearing different inscriptions, calling on the management to accede to their demands.
Part of the demands of the workers is the implementation of the reviewed scheme of service, known as CONTISS, by the management.
According to the angry protesting workers, the CONTISS, as approved by the National Board for Technical Education in 2013, would avail them some financial benefits. The workers ensured that offices and classrooms in the school were shut before moving to the school gates, which they shut for some hours.
Speaking with The Point on the campus, the Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics, Mr. Johnson Adekanlo, said NASUP exhausted all possible means to ensure that the management implemented the scheme before resorting to protest.
It was learnt that registrars of all the federal polytechnics in the SouthWest and representatives of the NBTE recently met at the Federal Polytechnic Ede, where the board declared that it could not implement the new scheme.
Consequently, the workers declared an indefinite strike, until their needs were met.
Meanwhile, efforts by The Point to get the reaction of the management proved abortive, as the Rector of the polytechnic could not be reached. Also, several telephone calls put across to the school’s Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Lawal, did not connect.
