The agitation for the implementation of Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS 15) migration by the three Staff Unions is an issue that has thrown the Polytechnic Community into unrest since 2016.

The CONTISS 15 migration is the movement of staff from one salary grade level to the next level provided the staff meets the necessary conditions stipulated by the NBTE as listed below:
a. Such staff must have been employed before 1st August 2009
b. Such staff must possess the basic academic/professional or both qualifications applicable to his/her competence in addition to compliance to Institutional policy.
c. Such staff must have spent a minimum of two (2) years on the current position before the year of migration.

The lawlessness of the three (3) Staff Unions and threats to the lives of members of the Governing Council along with the Principal Officers of the Polytechnic got to a peak that during a session of the Governing Council's meeting; the Council members were rounded up and locked up at the Board Room with threats to set ablaze the entire building with the members inside. Charms were freely displayed and urine poured on the heads of elderly Council members sent to appeal to them. Power supply was cut off and all members’ cars vandalised.

Following these threats, the Office of the Special Adviser to His Excellency on Education in order to save lives and property, directed the Governing Council to implement the CONTISS 15 migration scheme in order to pacify the rampaging Union members that held the Govering Council members hostage for several hours. This implementation was on the terms presented by the three (3) Staff Unions which was later found to be defective.

The faulty implementation of the CONTISS 15 started immediately in October, 2016, notwithstanding, the three staff Unions continued to agitate for the payment of the 87 months arrears calculated to N1.7billion which was a financial burden to accommodate.

Management at this instance, sent two (2) members of staff to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in Kaduna to seek clarification on the policy implementation of CONTISS 15 migration, specifically, a member of the Unions and another, a Deputy Registrar in the Personnel Department on behalf of Management.

Ironically, the two gentlemen sent to NBTE returned with two (2) conflicting reports. The representative of the Unions came with a point to point movement implementation which was their position for October 2016 defective implementation, while the representative of Management insisted that the implementation was to be in line with the normal and usual promotional movement as it was done in 2004 when the Polytechnic implemented the Alignment of Nomenclature Policy of 1998 of Lagos State Government.
Based on the conflicting positions of the representatives, the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education wrote directly to NBTE, seeking clarification on the implementation of the said NBTE guidelines.

The NBTE, in response, sent the policy guidelines directly to the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education (SAE).
The Office of SAE sent the policy papers to the Governing Council and other relevant agencies of Government for consideration and recommendation.

On receiving the NBTE document from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, the Governing Council constituted a committee with representatives from Governing Council, Management and the three (3) Staff Unions to consider the document as directed by the State Government. At the said meeting, the Unions insisted that the Polytechnic should implement the NBTE CONTISS 15 Migration Guidelines holistically even though Management and Governing Council were not favourably disposed to this Union’s position for they believed that it should only be for Officers on CONTISS 11 downwards and CONTISS 12 upwards (where necessary) according to NBTE. To give peace a chance again the Governing Council/ Management obliged.

This position was part of the collective resolutions of the Governing Council, Management and the Unions that was forwarded later to the State Government for consideration and necessary approval in 2017.

The Unions at several intervals embarked on strike actions that disturbed the peace of the Institution. This forced the State Government to institute a court action against the Unions' consistent strike actions.

The State House of Assembly intervened at the Unions' instance but they were impatient to wait for the resolution before embarking on their usual trade mark - strike action.
They also waved off, in acts of arrogance and disrespect to constituted authority, the intervention of the high power Executive Council led by the Deputy Governor in the company of the Secretary to the State Government and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education.

Having disregarded the interventions of the Deputy Governor’s team and that of the State House of Assembly, the Lagos State Executive Council proceeded to deliberate on the Governing Council’s presentation on the NBTE documents and released its decision which was communicated to the Polytechnic Management for implementation effective July 1, 2018 but just commenced by the Polytechnic due to administrative inconveniences and court directive.

The Management hereby refutes unequivocally that no staff of the Polytechnic was being demoted as claimed by the Unions.
The State Government in an act of magnanimity overlooked all previous payments made in error since October, 2016 to staff involved in the migration scheme due to the defective position of the Unions before the approved implementation date of the State Executive Council.

STEPS TAKEN BY THE POLYTECHNIC MANAGEMENT
1. Series of Meetings between the staff and management to explain the position of CONTISS 15 Migration.
2. Letters written to every member of staff involved in CONTISS 15 Migration by the Registrar.
3. Implementation of CONTISS 15 Migration in accordance with the NBTE guidelinse and as directed by the Lagos State Government.
4. Management directed all Staff who may have issues on the implementation to forward their complaints to the Registrar for necessary action.

WHAT IS LASPOTECH GOVERNING COUNCIL / MANAGEMENT DOING TO CUSHION THE EFFECTS OF THE REALIGNMENT?
1. Immediate promotion of staff that were due for the 2016/2017 appraisal year.
2. Immediate commencement of 2017/2018 appraisal.
3. Immediate implementation of annual increments from 2016 till date
4. payment of three months arrears of promotion to eligible staff.


Olanrewaju K, Kuye
Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations

CONTISS 15 MIGRATION CRISIS: THE REAL ISSUE
The Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS 15) migration approved by NBTE, as the Polytechnic Regulatory body in Nigeria. It was made to move polytechnic workers to a new salary grade that will suit the academic condition of service. When it was introduce in 2009, the chief lecturer who formerly were on grade level 14 were moved to a new grade level 15, while the Principal lecturer occupies grade level 14 from 13 and the senior lecturer were moved to 13 from 12. Those from grade level 11 and below were left untouched, creating an apathy within the academic rank and files. In 2011, the staff unions in all the polytechnics in Nigeria identified the need to include officers from grade level 11 and below, and started an agitation to achieve this. In 2013, the federal government through NBTE approves to this demand and directed that officers from grade level 11 and below be made to enjoy same salary structure like their senior (i.e. to be moved up by one grade level as it was done in 2009), and the effective date was back dated to January 1st 2009. Meaning that, when implemented, those officers concern will also enjoy arrears from 2009 to the date of implementation.
In 2013, Dr. Abioye Lawal, the immediate past Rector in quick response to the NBTE directive of extending CONTISS 15 Migraton to officers in grade level 11 and below, set up a committee headed by the then Deputy Rector Admin: Mr. Samuel Sogunro (who is now the Rector), who submitted a report that “for Migration to be effected, the polytechnic will require an additional N19Million to her monthly subvention” (ask the Rector for the report), and this was the challenge Dr. Lawal posed to the unions. The unions executive then went all out to lobby the government for an increase in subvention, and this was granted in June 2016 which in effect increased the polytechnic subvention by N57 million (from originally N153 million to N210million per month). The union then went back to the management for the implementation of this salary scheme. Unfortunately, Mr. Sogunro, the Rector vehemently turned down the unions demand and vowed never to implement same salary scheme his committee approved two years earlier. That was the beginning of the crisis. The unions protested in 2016 for its implementation, and this was granted by the Governing Council and effected in October 2016. The Government set up several committees which ascertained the financial capability of the polytechnic to commence the payment of the arrears. Just when the report of the Committee that recommended the utilization of the identified fund to commence the payment of the arrears; the Rector moved to frustrate the truce process and used the office of the Special Adviser on Education (SAE) and filed a case against the three staff unions at the National Industrial Court in August 2017. This was what led to the uneasy peace experience in the polytechnic from August 2017 till January 21st 2019 (when the current began), because the court ordered that status-quo be maintained by both parties pending the determination of the case. While this last, the Management began serious onslaughts on our members, coming up with trump-up charges against them, and through a kangaroo Staff Disciplinary Committee that meted draconian punishment to the staff members such as demotion, interdiction, suspension, warning, etc. as if this was not enough, the Management made moves to reverse the implementation done in October 2016 by issuing letters of ‘De-Migration’ in May 2018, but the court stopped the Management in June 2018, and the court warned the Management to maintained the Status Quo. In violation of the court order to get the migration reversed, they made move to withdraw the case from court, but the unions realizing this, quickly filed a counter-claim to stall their moves. But, because of their desperation to deal with staff at all course, they insisted on withdrawing of the case in court despite the judge’s warning of the likely consequence if they do and that, they will still have the union’s counter claim to contends with. Upon withdrawal of the case, they started the move to demigrate almost immediately, until when they eventually implement it this January. As it stand now, the demigration (or cut in staff salaries) was so bad that staff gets as low as N2000 as take home salary, while they live fat on the sweat of workers, it has been this bad!
Is that realignment or demotion.