Biodun Esan, Ilorin
Kwara State Government on Tuesday signed an agreement with the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council on the implementation of the Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS).
The salary structure is for Academic Staff of the Colleges of Education Ilorin, Oro, Lafiagi and College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies (CAILS).
The Head of Service (HoS), Modupe Oluwole signed on behave of the government while NLC chairman, Comrade Issa Ore signed on behalf of the unions in an event that took place at the Governor’s office.
The agreement, among other things for the implementation of the new minimum wage covering the Academic Staff would take effect July 1, 2022.
The deal also provided that the government shall in subsequent wage review include the representatives of Academic Staff Unions at the Tertiary Institutions in the committee for negotiations on behalf of members.
The committee would moderate subvention payment processes to be flexible that will enable payment of Academic Staff at the Tertiary Institutions as and when due.
They also agreed that there shall be no retrenchment of workers as a result of the implementation of the minimum wage.
“I want to thank everybody who has made efforts in this process. We appreciate you. We appreciate everything that you have done.
“Thank you for being responsive. Thank you for believing in Kwara and that Kwara belongs to all of us.
“Whatever we do is either for the betterment of Kwara or at detriment of the state. I thank you for choosing the latter.
“I want to thank our listening Governor for deeming it fit for ensuring that we have this salary.
“We do not take this for granted because there are several states that owe salaries. We believe things will continue to get better,” Oluwole said.
Oluwole appreciated the academic staff for their understanding and patience throughout the negotiations period.
State Chairman of NLC Comrade Isa Ore, for his part, commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Head of Service and other key stakeholders for the successes achieved so far in signing minimum wage agreements across all affected labour unions.
He appealed to the state government to also consider increase in pensions paying to the state retirees in line with the spirit of the minimum wage.
Chairman of JASUTI, Comrade Musa Mahmud, therefore announced the suspension of its strike in principle.
He said JASUTI was satisfied with the offers made by the state government to the union.
“Our appreciation knows no bound to His Excellency Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Head of Service Mrs Modupe Oluwole who have allowed these processes to come to this end.
We are satisfied with the offers given to us by the government of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; we shall continually reciprocate that because right from the onset Governor AbdulRazaq is our man.
“We want to assure everyone here and our students that they should start parking their bags to resume back to schools.
“As it is, the procedure followed in declaring the strike would be followed immediately in suspending the strike. But in principle, the strike is suspended,” he said.
Present at the signing of the agreement were Chairman Public Service Joint Negotiating Council Kwara, State Comrade Saliu Suleiman, and Director Establishment, Pension and Industrial Relations Alhaji Yusuf Amuda
Others were Secretary, Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, Comrade Joseph Tunde; Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice Alhaji Musa Idris; Permanent Secretary Establishment and Training Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Tertiary Education Bola Alaya.
They also include State Accountant-General AbdulGaniyu Sani and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Labour Matters Comrade Abdulkareem Onagun.
The rest were Chairman COEASU COE (Technical) Lafiagi Comrade Gborigi Katun; Chairman COEASU COE Oro Comrade Isah Ibrahim and the State Controller of Labour Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment Alhaji Yusuf Raufu.
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