Academic activities were on Tuesday disrupted in all the campuses of the Plateau state Polytechnic when ad hoc staff of the institution staged a protest to draw attention to their working conditions.
Students of the Plateau state polytechnic who tuned up for the day's academic activities were unable to gain access to their classroom as a result of the protest by ad hoc and part time staff of the institution
Mrs Rotkang Manch, Vice President of the Casual staff association of the Polytechnic, claimed they had not been paid for 26 months while their appointments as casual staff since 2002 are yet to be regularized by the management of the institution
She accused the state government and management of the institution of tribalism and nepotism, lamenting that none of the casual staff was given substantive appointment in the recent recruitment of new workers in the school.
They are also not happy that the management of the institution has issued some of them letters of temporary disengagement.
Though we are casual workers, but we remain the heartbeat of this institution because we do over 70 per cent of the work. The institution used us to secure accreditation for most of its academic programmes, yet they are treating us badly.
”Most of us are widows, some have orphans under their care; our children can’t go to school because we lack the means to do so.
Reacting to the development, Rector of the Plateau state Polytechnic, said when the current management took over office, it inherited a liability of 16 months unpaid salaries of the ad hoc staff from the previous management.
Mr Dawam said “It is not true that the polytechnic management is owing them stipends arrears for 26 months; it is for 13 months. When we came on board in 2019, we inherited 16 months arrears of these stipends and we were able to reduce it including that of our time to 13 months.
He added that “We are still owing because of the challenges we faced due to the advent of COVID-19 and the incessant strike actions which affected our operations and our revenue generation,”
On allegation of total exclusion of the casual workers from the recent employment in the institution, the rector said that out of the 202 slots govement alloted to the polytechnic community, 130 newly employed workers are among the casual workers.
The rector said out a total of 446 ad hoc staff it inherited , the current management has gone ahead to employ 0vern 100 while discussion are ongoing to absolve more.
The plateau state polytechnic has seen many strikes and academic disruptions in recent times as a result of industrial disputes
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