Respect Our Rights To Belong To Union Of Our Choices – ASUSS President Tells Governors
The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, ASUSS, Comrade Sam Omaji has appealed to Governors across the country to protect the rights of Secondary Schools Teachers to belong to a Union of their choices.
Mr Omaji stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo in reaction to the Court of Appeal judgement in Makurdi, Benue State which again asserted the rights of Secondary schools teachers to pay their check of dues to the coffers of ASUSS as against the compulsory remittance of same to NUT purse in some states.
“By this particular judgment and several others, we appeal to the conscience of State Governors and Houses of Assembly, our employers, who are products of a democratic process of choice, who sworn to defend the constitution and other extant laws to please respect the rights of secondary schools teachers members of ASUSS, whose check of dues are still wrongly deducted into NUT’s account to stop same in the interest of peace and justice”.
The ASUSS president maintained that in more than ten cases between the ASUSS and NUT, the Apex court of the land had established that every Nigeria has a right to belong to association of his choice, while 50 workers could come together to form a Union.
“The continuous deduction of the check of dues of some of our members who have voluntarily signed out of NUT to the purse of the mother union was an infringement on their rights as asserted by the Court”
The Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi had last week Wednesday
dismissed case of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, challenging the rights of teachers to belong to the professional bodies of their choices.
Recall, that sometimes in the 2002 secondary school teachers in Nassarawa state approached the High Court in Lafia in Suit no NSD/ LF/9/2002 to challenge the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT that it had no right to deduct check-off dues from their hard-earned salaries having withdrawn from the body and joined the then Conference of Secondary School Teachers, COSST.
