The College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Federal College of Education (FCE), Pankshin in Plateau State, has decried the shortage of staff in the college, saying it is part of the reason it has decided to embark on strike action.

The College’s Academic Staff had declared an indefinite strike action on July 1st, 2016 in protest of what they described as “management insensitivity“ to their plights and welfare.

COEASU Chairman, Mr Hembe Emmanuel told journalists in Pankshin, Wednesday that since 2012, no single lecturer had been employed to replace those who have retired, late or left the college for greener pasture.

“The non-replacement of those retired, transferred and deceased academic staff since January 2012, have been weighing us down and we felt we can’t continue like this any more.

“As a result of this, the few of us that are remaining are so over stretched with workload following shortage of staff in the college, ’’ he explained.

Emmanuel further explained that the strike which the union embarked upon on July 1 was not just because of the issue of salary, but other issues such as the shortage of staff.

He said some of the issues include the management’s inconsiderate determination to implement the still-under-review Scheme/Condition of Service “even though the content has not been made known to us at any time by the college’.

According to him, one other burning issues was the non-implementation of 2015 staff promotion/annual increments and the attendant arrears.

The chairman expressed regret that the Management failed to understand the weight those issues placed on “our members whether taken single or as a whole and remains largely uncommitted to the settlement of the dispute.’’

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Academic staff of FCE Pankshin say they are short-staffed