UG unions unhappy with negotiations with administration

Mar 12, 2015 News

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– to determine way forward at planned meeting

“Alarming” was the adjective used by Dr Mellissa Ifill yesterday when asked to comment on the input of

those representing the University of Guyana (UG) administration when a bout of negotiations was held between the UG workers’ unions and the UG Negotiating Team on Tuesday.
The round of negotiation represented the first since workers ceased industrial action last week.
UG workers, led by their Unions – the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association, headed by Dr Ifill, and the University of Guyana Workers Union, headed by Mr. Bruce Haynes – had engaged five weeks of industrial action to retaliate a breakdown in negotiations for better salaries and other benefits.
However, a compromise, complete with an interim 10 per cent salary increase offer, was reached last week, thereby bringing the strike action to an end.
But according to Dr Ifill yesterday, “clearly their sole intention was to get us to return to work without any real commitment to addressing the needs of the staff and the students of the University”.
She was at the time alluding to the content of a joint statement from the unions which expressed dissatisfaction with Tuesday’s negotiation session.
“To say the meeting was farcical and insulting would be a massive understatement. The university’s team, led by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, in the absence of the Vice Chancellor, essentially responded to all the items contained in our memo of demands that: (1) the University was unable to afford the demand at this time; (2) the practice/benefit remains as is or (3) the policy is being reviewed,” outlined the joint statement.
Moreover, the unions have concluded that the negotiation session was almost a monologue as no counter proposals were made by the university on any single item. “This farce was just another illustration – if we needed more – of the bad faith exhibited by the Vice Chancellor since we resumed work.”
“We were paid late versus immediately as the Terms of Resumption (TOR) stipulated and clumsy attempts were made to make some staff work back time without coming to an agreement with the unions,” outlined the statement.
Moreover, the unions have vowed to respond since “the university has violated its obligations under the TOR, as the unions have indicated to the Ministry of Labour officials, staff members are likewise under no obligation to honour the terms of the TOR.”
The unions are therefore planning a general meeting at which discussions will be had regarding a specific response to the action of the UG administration. According to Dr Ifill, following the meeting the executive of the unions will make public the agreed way forward.
In the meantime, the unions are warning its membership that “the struggle is not over so stay strong colleagues; our overpaid senior administrators, who will likely leave us before too long, are no match for us.”
Speaking to the “alarming” state of affairs yesterday, Dr Ifill said “it is scary to think that we have an administration whose words cannot be trusted, who are completely unconcerned about the circumstances under which we work.
“We would have made very public that their salaries can more than adequately take care of their needs and it is amazing that they are completely insensitive to the needs of those that they would seek to lead…” said Ifill.
But despite what can be regarded as yet another breakdown of negotiations, Dr Ifill said that staffers are being urged to continue their work as per norm. “We will continue to deliver our classes, we will continue to do our work until we meet and make a decision,” said the UGSSA President.
However, the unions have urged lecturers that “they should not use personal equipment or materials to carry out their teaching duties. Let UG administrators provide same.”
At the end of the recent strike action, Dr Ifill had told this publication that the unions were looking at a June 30, 2015 deadline for the completion of further negotiations with the University’s Negotiating Team. She however noted that “if we have not arrived at an agreement by that point we will return to the Ministry of Labour for conciliation for seven days and if that process is unsuccessful we have agreed that we will go the route of arbitration.”
The University’s administration has long made it clear that it is unable to pay a 60 per cent salary increase as was initially demanded by the Unions. The University had in fact offered workers a five per cent increase for this year and 10 per cent per the following two years, among other benefits. This was however rejected by the unions on behalf of the workers, resulting in a subsequent demand of a 25 per cent increase for the three years under consideration.
This response had prompted Vice Chancellor, Professor Opadeyi, to withdraw the university’s offer altogether.
This all occurred ahead of the truce that saw the workers returning to work based on the interim agreement offered by the university.

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