Union Head optimistic about needful transformation at UG

Jun 04, 2015 News

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“We are hopeful,” said President of the University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU), Mr. Bruce Haynes, when asked about his views on the way forward for the tertiary institution under the recently elected David Granger administration.

According to Haynes, his optimism is rooted in the fact that a former member of the Council, who was well acquainted with the many concerns of the institution, is currently tasked with overseeing the education sector.  “We are optimistic that we will have better reception than we would have had with the previous Government.
Because that, (former) member of the Council is now in the lead in terms of where education should go. So we are in a better position to now sit and negotiate conditions that will move the University,” said Haynes.
He was at the time alluding to recently appointed Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, who during an interview with this publication, acknowledged that the University’s subvention has not been nearly enough to ensure an improved operation.
“It is a question of priorities. We know that the money is limited but it is how you prioritise and I believe that the University really has to be given a far higher priority than it has been given so far,” he added.  Dr. Roopnaraine is optimistic that under his tenure the University will be transformed, whereby, it is on par with regional universities.
Haynes therefore is confident that the University is now poised to get increased support to forge ahead.
Alluding to measures that were implemented to appease strike action that the Unions (UGWU and the University of Senior Staff Association) of the University had engaged earlier this year, Haynes said that “everything that was done prior to or during the strike were strictly cosmetic. Substantive things were not basically done in terms of making life much more comfortable for staff…most things are still in abeyance. There might be some implemented in some areas, but in terms of general improvement there aren’t much.”
At the moment, Haynes related, that there are some refurbishing to some buildings being undertaken which is however, proving to be a major disruption to the normal University programme.  This, he pointed out, is due to the fact that the works are not being managed by the University so there is no internal control. As such, he stressed that “it is not handled properly…it is not a very comfortable situation because it is affecting exams. It should have started after exams would have concluded, so that most of the students are off campus and staff had proceeded on leave…”
At this juncture of his remarks, Haynes turned his attention to the need for Occupational Health and Safety to be urgently addressed at the University. A review in this regard should have been conducted some time ago but according to Haynes, “we haven’t had that audit as yet…the whole environment has been uncertain for far too long,” he stressed, while reiterating his sense of hopefulness.
Following an end to industrial action earlier this year, the Unions and the administration of the University had decided to meet to discuss the concerns faced by staffers with a view of defining an improved way forward.
A number of meetings were held in this regard. But according to Haynes yesterday, discussions had come to a standstill as Vice Chancellor (VC), Professor Jacob Opadeyi, was away on leave. It is however expected that meetings will resume shortly. This publication learnt that the VC returned to work only last week.
According to Haynes, the discussions had reached a point where efforts were being made to reach an agreement, as it relates to the conditions of service for support staff at the University.
“We have agreed to some things. The Vice Chancellor has been able to concede some things and we have worked out some reasonable terms that we can work with outside of getting finance from the Government,” said Haynes of the not yet concluded discussions.
“Because the VC was out, we were unable to conclude everything and move on to dealing with things relating to the academics…so we will now have to re-engage with him to find out what is really going on,” asserted the Union President.
According to him too, two sub-committees, of which he is a member, have already concluded discussions up to the stage of completing a draft agreement which has been sent to the office of the VC for his attention. “I will have to get back to the Personnel Officer to find out what the Vice Chancellor has said and find out when we are going to meet again,” said Haynes.
Among the concerns raised by the Unions was the need for a wages and salaries increase, which based on discussions already had, stands at 10 per cent. But according to Haynes, he anticipates that a wage hike will be directed by the new Government, a state of affairs that will be premised on the level of support that will be forthcoming.
However, the ultimate decision maker at UG is its Council, and Haynes observed that previously “most of the members of the Council were Government appointees and they were a part of the Government apparatus…” He now expects a different perspective to the operations of the UG.

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