Latest update April 17th, 2025 8:13 AM
UG Chancellor Bourne resigns
…protest action may have pushed him out
Yesterday staffers and representatives from the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association took their protest action to office of the Pro Chancellor, Prem Misir at the Parliamentary Office.
And before the protest there was word that UG Chancellor Professor Compton Bourne had resigned. According to Dr. Melissa Ifill, Vice President of the UGSSA, the UGSSA welcomes the resignation.
A section of protestors yesterday at Office of the Pro Chancellor.
“We have been advised that Mr. Bourne has resigned. It has been something that we have been calling for because we have argued that he has in fact not functioned effectively as Chancellor. We have called for his resignation and we are pleased. We see this as a victory.”
Prof. Bourne was re-appointed Chancellor recently, much to the dissatisfaction of the UGSSA. It was one of the areas of protest.
As it relates to the now vacant post, Ifill said the UGSSA has floated the names of some persons whom they feel have the university’s interest at heart and also have the necessary qualifications.
“We are hopeful that these individuals are considered–Sister Mary Noel Menezes, Winston McGowan, Dr. Yesu Persaud– and these are people we feel have all met the requirements”.
Yesterday’s protest action was aimed at calling on, not only the Government but all the Parliamentary parties, to look into the affairs of the University with urgency.
“We are here today to demonstrate because we went out on an industrial action at the beginning of the year and we reached a resumption of terms agreement with the university and notwithstanding the unions keeping their side of the bargain and returning to work and the University has not kept their side of the bargain,” Ifill pointed out.
She added that as a consequence they have once again decided to continue their industrial action. She went on to explain that the two sides went into a conciliation process regarding the termination of the services of three lecturers and the university came into the process with an intractable attitude.
According to Ifill, the University refused to bargain, refused to entertain any of their attempts at coming to some middle ground. Further, the University was obliged as per the term of agreement to meet with the UGSSA once a month for the first three months following the industrial protest and it did not honour that agreement.
This publication was told that the University only met once within the three-month period despite the fact that UGSSA wrote letters to the University administration on several occasions. Ifill said that a memorandum of demands regarding wages and salaries for all categories of workers was submitted, however, following the submission of that demand the University should have called a meeting with the negotiating team within one month.
This, too, Ifill said, was not done as the University failed to call the meeting within the month. “We let that slide but when the meeting was called, the council members did not turn up and without the members the meeting could not go on.
“When we asked the negotiating team to meet with us we were advised that they could not see us.” This, Ifill said, clearly shows that the university administration has not addressed the concerns with the urgency it deserves.
“We are not just calling on the government but all the other stakeholders, the needs of the university are enormous and there needs to be immediate alleviation so we are not only speaking to the government but to all the parliamentary parties and we want them to show some level of commitment,” Ifill lamented.
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