Secondary and primary schools teachers in Bayelsa State have threatened to embark on indefinite strike next week Monday if the state government failed to pay its outstanding salaries.
The teachers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Bayelsa State chapter, have therefore given the Bayelsa State government a seven-day ultimatum to address the issue.
The teachers vowed that if on the expiration of the ultimatum on September 19, 2016, the Dickson administration did not address the unpaid salary arears over six months; they would be left with no option but to embark on strike.
“The industrial action became inevitable after the 21-day ultimatum given by State Executive Council of the NUT to the government expired”.
The Union made this known in a communique issued after their emergency meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
In the communiqué signed by the state chairman (NUT), Kalaama Toinpre, and Principal Secretary, Johnson Hector, the teachers said the government had only paid secondary school teachers January full salaries and a half month’s salaries.
The communique reads in part, “Topmost of the issues in the communique include non-payment of salaries of primary and secondary school teachers for six months now.
“The issue of dismissal of teachers employed in 2008 and 2009 is another matter which has yet to be resolved. Also are the issues of the transfer of management and duty-post allowances to principals and head teachers, non-payment and non-implementation of promotions of primary school teachers in 2015.
“Other contentious issues are non-payment of N18,000 minimum wage arrears, non-provision of instructional materials and infrastructural facilities in schools.”
