By Jomo Paul
This is despite Labour Minister Dr Nanda Kishore Gopaul making it clear that the Ministry was not prepared to intervene in the dispute between the clashing parties at the state-owned university.
Dr Gopaul told iNews on Sunday that he believed proper industrial action procedure had not been followed hence his reluctance to intervene, fearing it may be futile.
But President of UGSSA, Dr Melissa Ifill told reporters at a “full blown” university strike on Monday that proper procedure was followed.
She explained that the initial issue started since 2012 and in that instance the Ministry wasted no time in intervening and ensuring normalcy was restored at the university.
Against that backdrop she related that the 2012 agreement will be included with the letter requesting conciliatory services that is expected to be sent to the Ministry later today.
“Clearly he [Labour Minister] has forgotten what happen in 2012 when we had been called into the Ministry by him – the Minister himself…it was agreed that if the partners were unable to reach a settlement he will conciliate on this matter,” Dr Ifill said.
She posited that the Ministry and the unions may have a different understanding of the phrase breakdown in talks since the UG administration had already indicated it will not negotiate under duress.
She said that while only a small amount of persons were picketing, 95% of the staff members were on strike at the university. This latest bout of industrial action is expected to last until Wednesday.
“We anticipate or we expect that by the end of the three days we would have had some kind of conversation with the administration….or we anticipate that the president would intervene in the interest of the staff and the university on a whole” said the UGSSA President.
The Union head was adamant that the demand for 60% increase in salaries with 25% in the first year was not “unreasonable” given the fact that it is general knowledge that UG staffers are underpaid.
When asked about the situation at the Berbice Campus, she said that the workers there had already indicated their full support for their striking colleagues.
She noted that while there were attempts to “intimidate” staff at the Region 6 campus, those issues were settled following a meeting between the unions and workers there on Friday.
City Mayor Hamilton Green also turned out at the protest action on Monday to show support for the striking UG workers. UG workers have been on strike for the past two weeks.
