The management of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) and the union members have been urged to embrace peaceful dialogue as solution to resolving the conflict between them over the implementation of the controversial CONTISS 15 salary scheme migration.
This appeal was made by two resource persons, Doctor (Mrs.) Rose-Mary Daresy, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Employment Relation and Human Resources Management, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba and Doctor Olufunmi Ajose Harrison, the Director – General, Lagos State Public Service, Magodo, Lagos, who spoke at the seminar organized by the institution to discuss industrial relation and the need for workers to avoid going on strike. The seminar was held on Tuesday May 7, 2019, at the Fun City Centre, Lagos Road, Ikorodu, and was attended by several top management staff and members of different unions in the Polytechnic.
However, key union leaders, who were alleged to be at the center of the crisis between the union and the management of the Polytechnic, were conspicuously absent at the seminar despite being invited. There was presence of security men at the venue of the event to prevent the warring union leaders from fomenting trouble.
Despite this, two members of the union almost disrupted the event when they insisted that they would not submit their mobile phones against the directive given at the beginning of the seminar that participants should submit their phones to prevent any situation where staff members would be captured and subjected to harassment by the union members for attending or speaking at the seminar.
They were, however, escorted out of the venue by security personnel to prevent the situation from going out of hand. While speaking at the event, Doctor Daresy explained that there will be misunderstanding between the management and staff members of any organization due to divergent views but that there is need for the two to resolve such situation amicably.
What is important when there is a conflict between the management and the union, like what is happening in LASPOTECH presently, is resolution of differences, which is called conflict management.
“Sometimes, employer would want to take advantage of the system to the detriment of workers; whereas, the union want more pay and better condition of service, in the case of union members in LASPOTECH.” From all indications, there have been conflicts between LASPOTECH’s management and the unions and all attempts to resolve them have proved unsuccessful. She opined that the current conflicts between the LASPOTECH management and the unions got worse due to weak internal conflict management system in the institution.
Doctor Daresy further explained that there is a need for internal mechanism to resolve the crisis as stated by the Trade Union Act. Hence, she urged the warring parties to follow the lay down procedures in resolving the matters, stating that it is only when the internal effort failed that the matter could be taken out for mediation. Other aspects listed by the university Don as conflict resolution include Reconciliation Industrial Panel and National Industrial Court. Doctor Daresy condemned the violent dimension that the crisis in LASPOTECH has taken, stating that if the management and the union had been constantly engaging in dialogue, the crisis would not have worsen.
She expressed her disappointment over the allegation that some members of the unions poured petrol on two staff members of Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) during mock JAMB examination. She said it doesn’t speak well for members of an academic environment to behave as touts, stating that there was no need to get violent since the matter was already in court. Doctor Daresy warned the warring parties to desist from acts that could make the State Government to shut the institution down, while also urging them to bury their differences and embrace dialogue.
She informed the gathering that the workers has legitimate right to protest and embark on strike action while their employers also has the right to enforce ‘no work no pay’ principle when workers embark on strike. As a solution to the matter, Doctor Daresy suggested that the management should always carry the unions along in its decision making, process, collective bargaining/negotiation while also appealing to the unions to reason with the management on the need for policy reversal and changes.
The second resource person, Dr. Olufunmi Harrison, in his submission, disclosed that there is a serious problem in the institution in the area of knowledge. He stated that there is need for the warring parties to know their respective rights, duties, obligations and limitations. “It is wrong for you to lock-out your employer from his place of work,” he told the striking workers. He, therefore, called on the management to put in place a system that would encourage regular meeting with the workers, and interactions that would engender proper education on duties and obligation.
Mr. Harrison also called on the management to institute a channel for effective information dissemination from the management to the workers. While stating that the crisis affected the management most, Dr. Harrison enjoined those involved in decision making in the institution to always engage and discharge their duties timely. He flayed the union members for rejecting the window of opportunities given by the offices of the Deputy Governor and the Head of Services of the State in resolving the crisis.
While proffering solution to the crisis in the institution, Dr. Harrison stated that LASPOTECH needs to review its scheme and condition of service and motivate its staff members. He also stated that the institution needs to overhaul its Human Resources department to make its impact felt positively by the staff members.
He made this suggestion in relation to LASPOTECH Registrar’s submission at the seminar that some of the union leaders that were sacked or affected by the CONTISS 15 migration reversal do not have the required academic qualifications to be in the positions they occupied in the institution. To the union members, Mr. Harrison stated that the era of ‘aluta’ was over; hence, the need to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Dr. Harrison also called for openness, accountability and creditability on the part of the management to achieve harmonious relationship with the unions.
Speaking earlier, Mr. Shakiru Bello, the Registrar of the institution, indicated that the purpose of the Seminar was to enhance the productivity of the staff members and finding ways to resolve the lingering crisis in the institution. He stated that the seminar was part of the management’s efforts aimed at increasing the capacity of the Polytechnic’s workers and was supposed to be held regularly, which, however, could not hold since January due to the unions’ strike actions. Mr. Bello told participating staff members that the management has been paying workers’ salaries despite the strike action but the last salary was delayed due to government’s directive that they should implement the ‘no work no pay’ rule.
“The implementation of the rule does not affect those staff members that have been reporting for duties but we understand that they are being prevented from entering their offices by the striking union members. We have no choice than to go back to the government to explain the situation on ground,” he disclosed. “To those that have been working to ensure that the whole institution is not portrayed in bad light, I say good work, but you still have to do more,” he appealed. “Some mischievous elements have been putting LASPOTECH’s name in the mud on the internet. I know what I was before my employment into LASPOTECH and I know what I have been able to achieve since then.”
He appealed to the striking workers not to force government to fight back. “We don’t have to push government to fight back because if we do, it would not be nice,” the Registrar warned. He added that the government may be forced to call for the reorganization of the institution like what happened during the institution’s previous administrations when the workforce was downsized. He also disclosed that some mischievous people have been making the resolution of the crisis impossible, citing the examples of the interventions by the Deputy Governor of the State, Head of Service, House of Assembly and the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education (OSAE), all of which he said were frustrated.
Mr. Bello denied the involvement of the management in the prosecution of some union leaders of the Polytechnic by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for allegedly pouring petrol on its staff while their colleagues were urging them to “Sana si, sana si” (light them up in fire), saying that, “Anybody that knows Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Jamb Registrar, will know he is not a man that can be manipulated. His track record at the University of Ilorin is still there for everyone to see.” He explained that it was the victims that reported the matter at Shagamu Road Police Station in Ikorodu, where their clothes that contained petrol were submitted as evidences.
He also added that the problem with the implementation of the CONTISS 15 migration stared when the representatives of the union intend that it must be done across board instead from level 12 upward as done in other institutions.
Mr. Bello submitted that the unions’ demand was carried out under duress when their members held members of the management and Governing Council hostage while threatening to burn down the building where they were locked up, a situation which, according to him, made the State Government direct that their demand should be met and implemented since lives were being threatened.
In his own remark, Mr. Adebanjo, the representative of the institutions Governing Council, stated that the seminar was planned to reposition the school before the strike action began. “Because of the strike action, we have not been able to achieve our target in the first quarter of the year. This gathering is not about intimidating anybody, rather, it’s an avenue to make staff members be aware of the position of the Governing Council and efforts so far made,” he stated. “This is an attempt aimed at limiting the damages done by the crisis,” Mr. Adebanjo stated.
He claimed that he has been a target of attacks while his person had been disparaged on the social media due to the crisis.
While addressing the press at the seminar, Mr. Olanrewaju Kuye, the institution’s Deputy Registrar (Information) and Public Relations Officer (PRO) appealed to the unions to embrace dialogue and peace. “It is a pity that we cannot do the programme on our campus because you never can tell what the union could do,” he revealed while explaining the reason the programme could not be held in the institution’s premises. “You can see for yourself that two of them (union members), Mrs. Titase Funmilayo and Sulaiman Saheed, came to disrupt the seminar but the security personnel on ground were able to escort them out. “You members of the media are brought in to cover and witness the seminar as well as report what you see so that when the information department writes anything out, we are not going to be accused of lying.”
Mr. Kuye added that all staff members that mater were invited to the seminar. “We invited all of them (union leaders) but as we were sending out the invites, they were sending counter message to their members not to attend, but we are surprised to see two of their leaders here today attempting to disrupt the meeting. At the end of the war, they will still come to the round table to discuss. I want to appeal to the unions to let us come to the table to resolve this matter. Because of the crisis, I have not been able to enter my office this year. Nobody is happy with whatever is happening in the system and whatever that I write, I do so as the PRO of the institution because that is what I am employed for.”
