Kunle Adelabu
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) branch, has called for a new salary structure for its members.
The union said that the 2009 agreement which was reached when the institution was Lagos a State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), and upon which the member staff are still placed on, is not in tandem with the new realities.
ASUU LASUSTECH Chairman, Comrade Tayo Okulaja, made the demand on behalf of the union during a press conference held in solidarity with the national ASUU, at the LASUSTECH Ikorodu campus on Thursday.
“There have been issues with the payment of salary shortfalls to university staff, which ASUU has insisted must be addressed comprehensively”, he said.
“The 2017 MOA included the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement to reflect contemporary realities. However, the renegotiation process has been slow and contentious, with ASUU accusing the government of not being sincere in its commitments”.
“The 2009 salary is what is operating now in Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH)”, he said.
Okulaja explained that the staff salaries package under the university system is far higher than what was negotiated under the polytechnic system.
He said that staff of the university have been promoted without corresponding increment in salary.
“Because we have just been transmuted into a university, most staff salaries are more than the salary structure of the 2009 agreement”, Okulaja said.
“Most staff have their salaries personalized to them. The meaning is that our salary does not change even when you’re promoted. Nobody earns any extra because our salaries are more than the 2009 agreement which is 15 years ago.
“To tell you how terrible the situation is in LASUSTECH, members of the ASUP that came from the (defunct LASPOTECH), their salaries are far more than what operates on that salary structure. That means that their salaries are personalized to them which further means that they have been promoted but yet, they are not earning a kobo extra.
“Every year, we are supposed to have an annual increment but we are not earning one kobo.
“Then, we also have new staff that came from outside and are employed on that same obnoxious and outdated 2009 agreement. So, you can understand the disparities in salary.
“You may discover in a department that you have a professor earning N421,000 and a lecturer I earning over N600, 000.
“You can see the disparity. That’s the situation on the ground”, he said.
