Saying that negotiations with workers’ unions did not progress beyond differences over the agenda, University of Guyana (UG) Vice-Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith has moved unilaterally to pay increases to eligible academic and support staff.
By way of a statement issued yesterday, UG said its Finance and General Purposes Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved the request of for salary increases at the rate of 3% for all eligible UA (academic) staff and 4% for all eligible UB (support) staff, retroactive to January 1st, 2018, which Griffith said is all the university can afford at this time.
“[A]lthough the 2018 negotiations with the unions never moved beyond differences over the agenda, I felt obliged to act on what we had planned all along to do; that is, to offer a salary increase for 2018,” Griffith was quoted as saying in the statement. He added, “The Administration maintains the principled position that performance will be a factor in this exercise, and that no academic staff with outstanding grades will be granted the increase.”