The academic staff in the Oyo State-owned tertiary institutions yesterday commenced a 3-days warning strike protest over non-payment of five months salaries arrears.

The state Co-ordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights (CDWR), Abiodun Bamigboye in a statement in Ibadan on Wednesday, while describing the warning strike as a right step in right direction, decried the selective payment of March 2015 salary for some workers (on grade levels 1 to 12) while denying others on level 13 and above their salaries.

According to the group, this selective payment is an attempt to divide workers; a plan labour leadership should reject.

 “Academic staffs in tertiary institutions in Oyo state decided to commence a 3-days warning strike from Wednesday, 8th July, 2015 over the non-payment of their five months salaries by  the state government.

“This decision became unavoidable following the expiration of the seven days ultimatum earlier given by the Academic Staff Unions of the affected institutions to their respective school management,” it said.

It added that the refusal of the state government to open-up a negotiation with and accedes to the laudable demand of the aggrieved workers within the period of the seven-day ultimatum was an indication of how “insensitive the APC government in Oyo State is to the plight of workers in the state.”

The group called on the state workers to  demand  for and insist on the full payment of all their unpaid salaries arrears across board now that  a bail-out fund to settle unpaid salary arrears  had been released for state governments.

 It recalled that at different occasions in recent period, the state government had been accused of awarding humongous contract sums in which a kilometre of road was constructed with N1 billion while about N3 billion was spent building a flyover.

“This is asides billions paid to political appointees as salaries and emoluments. What about hundreds of millions of naira receive monthly by the regime as security vote which could not be accounted for?

“Given this background, CDWR strongly holds that it is highly immoral and unacceptable for Governors and politicians who claim not to have money to pay workers to be living ostentatiously on the resources of the state while workers, pensioners and their dependents continue to suffer for the consequence of their financial recklessness and misappropriation,” the group said.