The Bayelsa chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has waded into the labour dispute that has grounded the Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, Bayelsa for three weeks.

The shutdown of the polytechnic by Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) has persisted in spite of peace moves by the school management.

It was learnt that the industrial action following a face-off between workers and management of the institution over deductions of union dues.

In an update on the development in a telephone chat on Friday, Mr Etebu Ebifiye, Chairman of Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) in the polytechnic told NAN that the NLC is already mediating with a view to resolving the dispute.

“The NLC officials have stepped in to broker peace. They have met the representatives of the union and management separately and listened.

“They have adjourned the meetings to set up a joint meeting of all the parties, and we are awaiting invitation to the mediatory meeting,” Ebibiye said.

Union leaders had maintained that the institution would remain under locks until the Rector and Governing Council Chairman are removed to pave way for the face-off to be resolved.

NASU had on July 11 shut down the institution over withheld June salary and non-remittance of four months union dues of its members.

NAN reports that the aggrieved workers locked up the institution’s liaison office in Yenagoa, the main campus at Ekowe and the residence of the Rector in Yenagoa.

The management of the polytechnic has released the withheld June salary of NASU members but failed to remit outstanding union dues.

The Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe chapter of NASU vowed that the institution would remain under locks until the check-off dues dispute is resolved.

They maintained that the non-remittance of union dues by the management was a breach of labour laws and a threat to industrial harmony.

According to the NASU Chairman, the-non deduction and remittance of union dues from members’ salaries was an existential threat to NASU at the polytechnic located on the bank of River Nun in Southern Ijaws Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

However, Mr Nimizuo Pereseigha, Public Relations Officer of Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe said that the management remains committed to peaceful resolution of the dispute through dialogue.

He explained that NASU leadership has been rebuffing moves by management to discuss and resolve the labour crisis.

“The management got reports from the workforce that some workers have their union dues remitted to unions they do not belong to. Some workers also got upgraded for instance from non-academic to academic cadre and their union dues still go to NASU whereas they now belong to Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics. (ASUP)

“To resolve this the management asked the three unions we have here to have their members update their membership status and endorse consent forms.

“Out of three unions, ASUP, NASU and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), ASUP and SSANIP complied and submitted consent forms to validate their memberships but NASU refused to comply.

“Consequently, management deducted union dues for the two unions that regularised the status of their members and for NASU members, 100 per cent of their salaries were paid without deduction of the two per cent union dues,” Pereseigha said.

On the alleged exclusion of NASU members from promotion, Pereseigha said that while the NASU members were on strike, the members of other unions completed and submitted their performance assessment forms only to turn back to blame the Rector, Dr Lukman Adegoke, for a process concluded while they were on strike.

Pereseigha noted that the management as part of efforts to resolve the dispute has asked NASU members to fill and submit their appraisal forms to participate in the promotion exercise but they have yet to respond.