| – UGSS starts ‘Stand Up’ initiative to help spur normalcyUniversity of Guyana (UG) workers may very well be prepared to call a truce and return to work if a 10 per cent salary increase interim offer is proposed to them.UGWU President,Mr Bruce HaynesAt least this is according to President of the University of Guyana Workers’ Union (UGWU), Mr Bruce Haynes, who noted that workers are prepared to accept the 10 per cent increase pending continued negotiations. And perhaps such an offer will soon be officially on the table.Haynes in an invited comment to this publication yesterday disclosed that while several executive members of the two unions – the UGWU and the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) – that represent UG workers had taken strike action to the Berbice Campus on Friday, a meeting was called by the University’s negotiating team,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, together with the Ministry of Labour.The UGWU President said that he was informed that at that meeting, a member of the University’s negotiating team, Mr Odinga Lumumba, made a 10 per cent increase proposal to those members who represented the Unions. Reports are that the meeting was chaired by Minister of Labour, Dr Nanda Gopaul, who this publication was unable to reach by telephone yesterday.But according to Haynes, as far as he is aware, the offer was not an official one. Moreover, he noted that “I don’t know with whose authority he (Lumumba) was speaking…we are still waiting for a formal offer, and we will not accept one unless it is a serious, solidified one.”He however went on to note that the impression that the workers have been getting from the University’s administration is that the workers should return to work and operate as ifStudents again blocked the entrance to the University of Guyana yesterday.there are no problems at the tertiary institution.STRIKE CONTINUESYesterday marked the fifth week of strike action at the national University, as part of workers’ efforts to retaliate to a breakdown in negotiations for better salaries, other benefits and improved working conditions.And though their numbers were modest, the workers continued their industrial action, which was characterised by them congregating at the front entrance of the Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown campus. The strike action, according to Haynes, will continue until a formal offer is proposed, which is accepted by the workers.Initially the Unions were demanding a 60 per cent across the board increase for workers of the University, a demand that was altered to a 25 per cent per year increase over a three-year period. The latter demand was one intended to counter the offer proposed by the University’s negotiating team, which had offered a five per cent for this year, and 10 per cent per the following two years.The University’s offer was rejected by the workers and subsequently withdrawn by UG Vice Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi,Maillot De Foot Pas Cher, who cautioned that the industrial action be halted before the furtherance of negotiations.The Unions had written to President Donald Ramotar and the Ministry of Labour to intervene in the matter. The Labour Ministry through Chief Labour Officer, Mr Charles Ogle, had in fact responded to the intervening call from the Unions, but had embraced the Vice Chancellor’s call for the workers to return to work before offering intervening support.STUDENTS ‘STAND UP’But while not joining the workers’ protest action, per se, students,Stitched Jerseys, mainly members of the University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS), opted to amplify their concerns about the University, by blocking its entrance yesterday. Some of the students, seated at the barricaded entrance, were seen playing a game of cards while some others stood on the sidelines as inclement weather threatened.According to UGSS President, Joshua Griffith, the strategic tactic, which being dubbed students ‘Stand Up’ comes as part of the UGSS’s #UGRevolution initiative which is aimed at helping to bring back normalcy at the tertiary institution, complete with improved facilities.Griffith pointed out that the decision to ‘stand up’ was premised on the fact that students are paying for services at UG, but are in fact not receiving value for their money.“This basically brings public awareness of our utter frustration at the prevailing situation at the University of Guyana; we find the conditions very untenable,” asserted the UGSS President as he stood with some of his members at the gate of the Turkeyen campus yesterday.He pointed out that the UGSS has been imploring students to “stand up” since after four weeks of strike action nothing has been done to return normalcy to the institution. While some lecturers have not been supportive of strike action and have continued sessions, reports coming out from the workers’ side suggest that most classes are not being held.However, the UGSS is on a mission, Griffith said, to encourage those students who are having regular classes to stand up in solidarity with those who are being deprived such sessions.Moreover, he noted that the notion that is being embraced by the UGSS is that “we are saying all classes or no classes; that is basically what we are standing up to say that until all classes are resumed,Cheap NFL Shop, there should be no classes.”This is in light of the fact, he added, that the level of uncertainty is devastating to the student population. “I think we are being taken for granted and we are just sending a strong signal so that both parties – the Unions and the Administration – can get their acts together fast, because we cannot go on for much longer like this,Cheap MLB Jerseys Free Shipping,” Griffith stated.The ‘Stand Up’ tactic which first occurred on Friday was carried out under the watchful eyes of police ranks yesterday who eventually removed the barricades.And as they ‘Stand Up’, Griffith said that students are being urged to keep up-to-date with lecture sessions,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, even as he hinted to other possible actions if the situation at UG persists. “Don’t just limit us to standing up here; we will not be stagnant and we will not be predictable,” the UGSS President emphasised. |
