NUJ TO MEDIATE NAN STAFF, MANAGEMENT INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE

LAGOS, Nigeria – The Lagos State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalist(NUJ) has promised to mediate in the industrial dispute between unions in the News Agency of Nigeria and the management.

Chairman of the council, Dr Qasim Akinreti said this on Tuesday in Lagos during the council’s Media Tour to NAN Lagos office.He said the NUJ was yet to get details of the dispute, and said that the national body, through the president would meet with the unions and management to settle issues amicably.

The chairman said that the Lagos council got information about the impending industrial dispute of the unions from NUJ NAN Lagos Chapel, advising that the union should work according to the civil service rule.

NAN reports that the three unions in of the agency were threatening to down tools on July 26 on grounds of non implementation of conditions of service that was last reviewed 16 years ago. Other complaints included the the non payment of promotion arrears for 2012 and 2017, shortfall of promotion arrears of 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The unions are also protesting the non payment of allowances to staff who wrote the 2018 promotion examination in Lagos and Abuja and the non-payment of repatriation allowances to foreign correspondents.

The Unions include the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union, RATTAWU, and the NAN chapter of AUCPTRE.

Akinreti, during the media tour, highlighted some of his achievements in the last nine months as chairman of the council, which included training of more than 300 members in various programmes. Mr Silas Nwoha, a Deputy Editor-In-Chief, who received the NUJ team, assured them of NAN’s support to the council. Earlier, the Secretary of NUJ, NAN Lagos chapel, Mr Moses Omorogieva, briefed the council on the impending three-day warning strike.