3 unions kick over staff welfare
Uncertainty enveloped the Projects Development In­stitute (PRODA) Enugu, at the weekend as the three unions have resolved to re­sume their suspended strike.
The workers are not happy with the alleged failure of the management and Governing Council to address staff welfare, which they said, had been on for the past 24 months.
At the end of their meeting in Enugu, the three unions –Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), Senior Staff Association (SSAUTHRIAL) and Non- Academic Staff Union (NASU), accused the management of insensitivity, flagrant disregard for staff welfare and grossly unsatisfactory conditions of service.
A case in hand, they alleged, was the abandonment of a female staff, Miss Nmaju Chiagozie Eunice, who on March 25, 2011 sustained injury on her left eye while undergoing table analysis in the Chemistry laboratories.
They stated that since the incident, the unions had made several efforts to get the management to assist her financially to enable her undergo surgery to no avail, stressing that the woman’s situation has degenerated, “to an alarming stage because of lack of funds and adequate attention”.
The unions also alleged delayed staff confirmations and advancements, non- payment of the statutory 28 days in lieu of accommodation and transport to new staff, discriminatory and non-standard criteria for staff conversion and non-implementation of grade level skipping – CONRASISS 9 to CONRAISS 11 among others.
Other issues they highlighted include “improper pension and remittances to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), non –implementation of mandatory pre-retirement leave, the board’s and management’s total disregard for due process and the federal character policy in surreptitious staff employments, and non- implementation of employees’ Right to Life Insurance and other friendly government circulars”.
The workers said following management’s inability to act, they resolved to embark on peaceful protest last month, adding that rather than find ways to address the issues, management invited the police to stop the demonstration.
The unions which though were not specific on the date for the resumption of the strike, accused management of feeding the public with half truths on the activities of the institute, stressing that the agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology had been unable to fulfill its mandate.
Efforts to reach the Acting Director-General, Mr. Charles Agulana yesterday on the development were unsuccessful.

PRODA workers to resume strike