Activities at the colleges of education, Warri and Agbor, in Delta State, were on Wednesday grounded following a strike embarked upon by the four unions in the institutions
Efforts by the state Ministry of Education to prevent the strike through a letter of appeal to the unions dated January 11, 2008 and signed by Mr. A.U. Elueche for the Commissioner for Education and made available to Nigerian Tribune could not stop the aggrieved members of the unions from going ahead with their action.
In the letter, the commissioner told the unions that the state government was aware of their demands and had taken action to obtain approval for the implementation and payment of CONTISS to staff of both colleges.
“The ministry is appealing to you to shelve your strike action and maintain your usual cooperation and prevailing industrial harmony,” it added.
However, a communiqué signed by the four union leaders signaling the decision to embark on an indefinite strike said: “following the expiration of the 21-day and seven-day ultimatum respectively on the payment of the consolidated tertiary institution salary structure(CONTISS), issued to the state government by the Joint Unions of College of Education, Warri, the congress of the unions resolved in a meeting held on Wednesday, 16th January, 2008 to embark on indefinite strike pending the payment of CONTISS and its accrued arrears with effect from January 2007.”
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