The unions representing University of Guyana (UG) workers, who began a sit-in last week, are awaiting clarification from the University Council on the resumption of negotiations.
According to a joint statement from the UG Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and the UG Workers’ Union (UGWU), the sit-in will continue on Monday until a midday meeting to decide on the way forward.
The unions noted that the Council convened a meeting on Friday in an effort to resolve the weeklong industrial action at the university.
Following the meeting, they said the Council issued a statement which indicated that it had instructed its negotiating team to resume engagements with the UGSSA and the UGWU. Furthermore, the council indicated that the resumption would occur without pre-conditions or undue delay.
In response, the unions thanked the administration for the meeting and acknowledged the council’s decision to resume engagement with both unions.
However, they said the decision was not yet formally communicated to the unions via a signed document. Rather, they said, the decision was issued in a press release. The unions also claimed that all academics were expelled from the council before the statement was agreed on.
The unions further raised concerns over the decision, such as whether negotiations and simply more than talk was on the table. The unions also questioned whether the negotiating team had secured a remit for a specific increase as well as if Vice Chancellor Jacob Opadeyi plans on withdrawing the workload policy document from council until consultations had been held.
The unions said they are hopeful that their questions would be addressed by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, they plan to continue sit-ins and a decision on how long the strike will continue will be made during a meeting tomorrow amongst staff members.
The unions are maintaining that its members are prepared to return to their posts immediately, once satisfactory responses are received and a favourable resumption of duties agreement have been decided upon.
The sit-in commenced on January 26, the same day the university had been scheduled to reopen for the new semester. The unions made the move following a collapse in negotiations over wages between them and the UG administration.
Since 2012, wage negotiations between the academic staff and the administration have been ongoing, leading to a strike by lecturers and students alike before terms for resumption were brokered.
