Staff of the University of Guyana have agreed to take action if there is no response to certain demands by Wednesday October 17 as it has been reported that the resumption of duties agreement is being ignored.
The administration is being accused of deliberately flouting the resumption of duties agreement, which specifically obligated the university to convene a meeting with the negotiation team one month after submission of the memorandum of demands, Stabroek News understands.
UG lecturers and members of the student body protested for several weeks earlier this year following the dismissal of three lecturers, including Freddie Kissoon, and against the deplorable conditions at the campus. The UG Students Society (UGSS), the UG Workers Union (UGWU) and the UGSSA had joined with students in a collaborative effort, dubbed ‘Operation Rescue UG,’ to fight for these causes.
Relief came on February 26 when a meeting was called by Minister of Labour Dr Nanda Gopaul and several terms of agreement were signed and the parties returned to work the following day. However, claims have been made that these terms are not being met.
One source has told this newspaper that the unions have been making attempts over the past two months to engage the administration about the poor remuneration and benefits paid to staff but to no avail.
“Two meetings were scheduled with the university’s negotiation team under the previous council but in both instances, council members failed to turn up rendering the university’s team not quorate and the meetings had to be aborted,” the source said, noting that since the new council’s month-old appointment, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dr Marlene Cox, has been written to about re-engagements but there has been no response.
Stakeholders believe that the resumption terms are being ignored and as a result, have taken the decision to engage in further action if there is no response to the correspondence by Wednesday October 17, 2012.
According to the source, while the resumption of duties agreement provides for the Ministry of Labour to conciliate in the event the two parties cannot agree, there is little confidence in this ministry since the conciliation of the termination of lecturers’ contracts was poorly conducted and ended in a stalemate. The source added that the Minister of Labour is yet to respond to a request to move the issue to arbitration.
Sources within the University of Guyana have also disclosed that the Hamilton & Associates report has been circulated and also that the US$10 million World Bank loan has been signed.
With regard to the report, Stabroek News was told that the document holds identifiable flaws but is still considered a starting point for discussion.
The source stated that stakeholders are pleased with the signing of the loan but believe that the time taken to do so is inexcusable, taking into consideration the dire, disgraceful conditions in the science and technology faculties’ laboratories.
The general breakdown of the physical structure continues to be blamed on the administrative team which was said to have failed in meeting its obligations based on the resumption of duties agreement.
“The administration has admitted it lacks the capacity to address many of the university’s pressing issues as it lacks the necessary finance to do so. Palliative, cosmetic works are being done by the Ministry of Education but these fail to address issues of inadequate classroom space, bathroom facilities and teaching aids,” information coming out of the University’s Turkeyen site indicated.
The administration was also accused of disclosing false information as to why the commencement of the new semester was delayed. Blaming the delay on the financial crisis, the source stated that it was inaccurate for the administration to blame this on industrial action taken by staff earlier this year.
