IITA response to General Staff Association action
26 July 2007
Public announcement for immediate release
Ibadan, Nigeria – The following facts have been released by IITA Management today, 26 July 2007 in response to the action by its General Staff at its Ibadan campus.
Facts:
- IITA is an international not for profit organization.
- IITA employs national and international staff in various countries: Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ug anda, and fully complies with the respective labor acts.
- By the Nigeria Federal Government directives to IITA, we are an international organization and cannot have unions. By interpretation, union-like behavior is precluded. However, we allow staff to express themselves, even during working hours, in their association meetings as long as it is done in an organized way.
- IITA employs four levels of Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS): Executive, Management, Senior, and General Staff.
- IITA does not negotiate salary increases with any of its staff, whether they are national, regional, or international. We assess annually what raises we can offer within our means, and that is what is offered. While this year may not be the best, we still average a two digit raise in IITA-Nigeria over the last five years.
The current situation:
- The General Staff Association on Thursday, 19 July 2007 informed management that they do not accept the terms of employment offered.
- The General Staff violated IITA’s policies on Tuesday 24 July 2007 when they were on campus and went on strike for the whole day.
- After reviewing the on-going situation on campus as a result of the strike action, the IITA Management has decided to offer three work-free days with pay to General Staff until Friday, 27 July 2007. The General Staff are expected back to work on Monday, 30 July 2007, but before then, they are directed to individually collect a message from Management between 2.00 and 4.00pm on Friday, 27 July 2007. The General Staff have thus not been “locked out” as stated by their representatives.
Further information and facts will be released as necessary.
IITA Management
