UGWU President not impressed with Vice Chancellor’s leadership

Feb 11, 2015 News

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“If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, it is uncomfortable either way you look at it,” said President of the University of Guyana Workers’ Union (UGWU), Bruce Haynes.

Haynes, who was at the time entertaining an interview with this publication, emphasised this point as he made reference to Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Jacob Opadeyi.
In fact the UGWU President wasn’t at all timid in amplifying his disappointment with the level of leadership that has been exhibited by Professor Opadeyi since the recent commencement of industrial action at the University.
“The Vice Chancellor believes that if he is getting no traction from the Government’s side then he is going to try to see if he gets traction from the staff’s side,” Haynes speculated, as he shared his firm belief that several disparaging remarks that were made by the Vice Chancellor and published via the press are merely his attempt at threatening staffers into submission.
The Vice Chancellor just last week issued a statement to the university Unions – the UGWU and the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association – pointing out that he has not only withdrawn a 25 per cent multi-year proposed pay hike (payable altogether over a three-year period), but he will not continue further negotiations until the workers return to work.
A demand was made by the workers, through their Unions for a 60 per cent across the board increase, which has since been reduced to 25 per cent (per year) for a three-year period (2015, 2016 and 2017).
Based on disclosures made by the Vice Chancellor since assuming his position early 2013, the workers were convinced that he was prepared to make the University financially stable, even if it meant soliciting much needed funding directly from Government. But the Unions are convinced that from all indications, the Vice Chancellor has reneged on his ambitious stance and seems to favour a more “dictatorial” approach.

“What the Vice Chancellor has been saying is intended to demoralize and threaten. Some people can buckle, others will resist; and we are resisting,” Haynes asserted as he bore a placard stating “this nonsense must stop” while joining forces with several other workers as they picketed near the front entrance of the University’s Turkeyen Campus.
The University workers commenced strike action two weeks ago, but devised a plan to intensify such action on Monday, which will continue until today, in hope of prompting a resolution.
Continuing his deliberation on the prevailing situation, Haynes insisted that “it is wrong to vilify people. We have not vilified anybody out there; we have had a cordial relationship with the Vice Chancellor. We were meeting with the Vice Chancellor, we were being very patient, we were being very tolerant,” added the evidently perturbed UGWU President.
He stressed too that while there were many promises made by the Vice Chancellor, which he did not honour since assuming office, “we never held that against him, but there is a point that you reach that you will say ‘can we continue like this forever and ever’.”
According to Haynes, the move to intensify industrial action is merely one aimed at seeking closure over a matter that has been ongoing for far too long.
“We want closure,” he insisted, as he focused attention on the initially requested 60 per cent increase that was proposed by the Unions to the University’s Negotiating Team. He explained that while 60 per cent might seem huge, it certainly will not be, when one considers the pay package of a maid/cleaner employed at the University who takes home just over $20,000 per month.
The majority of persons in this category, he noted, are required to work five hours per working day and still will not be remotely propelled to even the minimum wage level if 60 per cent is added to their pay package.
“Some people out there are saying that we are greedy, but I don’t know about that. People talk, but they don’t do the Maths, because they don’t care; because most of them who will get a five per cent increase (to salaries that already surpass the minimum wage) they can live with that,” Haynes theorised.
According to him, it is imperative that people seek to understand the dynamics of survival in Guyana, even as he pointed out that some things necessary for survival are in fact, “generally out of our reach.” He alluded to the procurement of a house lot which could amount to in excess of $100,000 as he questioned “where is the average citizen going to earn $100,000 to pay that.”
And then there is still the question of building and maintaining one’s self and family that must still be factored into the equation, the UGWU President observed.
“How are we going to deal with those things that are outside of our reach? We need to have an increase in what we take home!” he stated emphatically.

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