By Victor Ahiuma-Young
ABUJA — The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has demanded the immediate payment of outstanding salaries, promotion arrears, wage awards, pensions, gratuities and other benefits owed to workers and retirees.
NASU President, Dr Makolo Hassan, made the demand during the union’s ongoing National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, expressing concern over what he described as the denial and delay of workers’ legitimate entitlements.
Hassan said the continued withholding of workers’ benefits was incompatible with the principles of fairness, dignity and social justice.
He said the union would continue to press for the settlement of outstanding entitlements, insisting that workers deserved fair treatment and protection from exploitative employment practices.
“We cannot claim to uphold the principles of decent work while workers are denied their hard-earned salaries, promotions, wage awards, pensions, gratuities and other legitimate entitlements,” he said.
The NASU president also rejected the increasing casualisation of labour and the use of contract employment arrangements which, according to him, deprive workers of job security, fair remuneration, dignity and legitimate benefits.
He described such practices as unjust and contrary to the principles of social justice and decent work.
“We shall remain resolute and unrelenting in our demand for equal pay for work of equal value, the regularisation of eligible casual and contract workers, the protection of workers’ rights and the immediate payment of all outstanding entitlements,” Hassan said.
The union’s demands come amid rising living costs, which Hassan said had significantly eroded workers’ purchasing power and made it increasingly difficult for many households to meet their basic needs.
He cited rising petrol prices and the cost of food, transportation, housing, electricity, healthcare and other essential commodities as factors worsening the financial pressure on workers.
“With the increase in the pump prices of petroleum products, the astronomical rise in the cost of food, transportation, housing, electricity, healthcare and other essential commodities, the current Minimum Wage has effectively become a slave wage that can no longer sustain Nigerian workers and their families,” he said.
Hassan extended the union’s concerns to retirees, insisting that workers’ dignity and welfare should not end upon retirement after years of service to their institutions and the country.
He lamented the hardship caused by unpaid gratuities, delayed pensions and prolonged verification exercises, arguing that retirees deserved financial security after decades of service.
“The dignity of labour must not end on the day a worker retires. After decades of service to our industries, institutions and nation, no retiree should be condemned to endless verification exercises, unpaid gratuities, delayed pensions or poverty in old age,” he said.
The NASU president consequently called for the prompt payment of pensions and gratuities, the settlement of outstanding liabilities to retirees and stronger safeguards for pension funds.
“We therefore demand the prompt payment of pensions and gratuities, the transparent and secure management of pension funds, the settlement of all outstanding liabilities to retirees, and periodic pension increases that reflect inflation, the cost of living and general wage reviews,” Hassan added.
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