Five weeks into a strike at the University of Guyana, it remains unclear when classes will resume and a workers’ union official said they will be meeting the Ministry of Labour today and hopefully, the issues can be resolved.
University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) President Dr Mellissa Ifill, when contacted, was tight-lipped about a meeting held between the unions and the institution’s administration yesterday.
However, she said, they will be meeting today with the Ministry of Labour and she is hoping that there will be a resolution to the various matters.
The gates of the university remained chained yesterday despite an effort by the police to force them open.
According to University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS) President Joshua Griffith, the police approached the students and without warning tried to cut the chains used to keep the gates shut. This action upset some students and they covered the chain with the Guyana flag and the police retreated.
Griffith emphasised that that no one is being prevented from entering UG but said that the gates will remain shut until all classes have resumed. The chains were placed on UG’s gate after some students said it was unfair for some to resume classes while others are left in the cold. After the incident yesterday, students continued their undisturbed conversations and the police kept their distance.
Griffith said it is quite sad that an amicable solution cannot be reached by the workers’ unions and UG’s administration. He said both sides need to make compromises if things are to be sorted out. He also called on all students to unite with the students who are fighting for a better university.
Griffith said a university should not function in the manner that UG is functioning.
The students who are getting classes should not be selfish and realise that the problems at UG are bigger than them, he stressed.
Meanwhile, the UGSS President said that the fire that was started at UG on Thursday was supposed to be for a “bush cook” and the students were not trying to cause any damage. He said the students would not try to destroy UG – the very place which they are fighting for. “At the end of the day, we want a solution,” Griffith said.
He said that even though there were some hints of students wanting to take a more forceful route, he does not support it.
“This is week five. Next week, this wouldn’t be peaceful. It can’t be peaceful because we have been peaceful for five weeks. The government is not responding.
The government needs to respond … The UG students and the foreign students are fed up. They need to resolve this issue now,” Glenfield Dennison, a frustrated Belizean student, told Stabroek News on Thursday.
The industrial action by the UG workers started five weeks ago following collapsed negotiations over wages with the university’s administration among other issues. Some lecturers, however, have been conducting classes for some programmes but the students then blocked the gates saying that all classes should be resumed or there should be no classes at all.
