The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says that the Federal Government is not sending the check-off dues that were taken out of university lecturers’ November 2022 paychecks and put into the union account.
The Punch says that “check-off due” is the amount of money taken out of an employee’s paycheck to pay for membership in a union or other group that represents workers in a certain industry.
Prof. Gbolahan Bolarin, chairman of ASUU in the Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter, said in Abuja, “Despite the pro-rata salaries that were paid for the month of November, those who got their pay slips saw that check-off dues and cooperative dues were deducted, but the problem now is that the account of ASUU was not credited.
“The government gave credit to the cooperatives, but ASUU was not given credit. Now, here’s the question: since you said you paid us equally, where did you get the money to pay the check-off and cooperative dues? And if the check-off fees were taken out of ASUU’s account, why wasn’t it credited? You took union dues out of the source, but you didn’t give the union credit.”
Olajide Oshundun, a spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Employment, told The Punch that the government’s decision about the check-off dues was right.
Oshundun said, “According to the constitution, Section 37, Subsection 1 of the Trade Union Act says that every year ASUU must give an account of the money sent to the body. All ASUU members get a monthly deduction, which is usually given to ASUU each month to run their secretariat.
“They also have to give an audited report of this money every year, but ASUU didn’t do that for four years in a row.
“The ministry wrote to ASUU and asked why they haven’t given an audited report of the money they’ve collected in the past four years. The letter was sent to ASUU, but they didn’t answer it. They didn’t even send a letter to say that they got the letter. ASUU was then sent a letter to remind them, but it was also ignored.
“The ministry then decided that IPPIS should not give ASUU the check-off amount that was due for November. So, when they respond and say how they spent the money IPPIS gave them, the money IPPIS is holding for them will be given back to them.