Updated: UG strike officially called off; classes to resume Tuesday- unions

Last Updated on Monday, 2 March 2015, 18:14 by GxMedia

The unions of the University of Guyana (UG) today called off all forms of industrial actions following the signing of two agreements with the university’s administration.

Classes and other operations that had been affected are to commence on Tuesday, March 3, 2014.

This development effectively brings an end to more than five weeks of industrial action, which included marches, picketing, sit-ins, and more recently, a full-blown strike.

In a press statement released this afternoon the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and the University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) explained that “the first agreement details the terms under which our members will return to work,” while the second, dubbed the “Interim Offer Agreement” (IOA), “outlines a 10% interim pay offer” payable at the end of March, and which will be retroactive from January 2015.

This agreement also outlines a timetable for continued negotiations, which is to commence in seven days, as the unions have made clear their intentions to continue to push toward the 60% increase initially demanded.

As a result of the actions which had been undertaken by the unions the university had all but ceased to function normally. The release noted that the signing of the agreements ushers in “the end of a very protracted period of industrial unrest that ultimately resulted in a virtual standstill at (UG).

During a consultation with staffers Monday morning UGSSA President Melissa Ifill was greeted with thunderous applause from both academic and non-academic staff after she told them that from all indications the end of their plight seemed at hand.

“We have demonstrated that we are strong, resilient, and are prepared to engage in actions to further our cause,” Ifill told the staffers. And, even as the staffers were on the brink of celebrating what seemed to be an imminent victory, she charged them to “remain vigilant,” and to report any instances of victimization.

Ifill also pleaded with the staffers to not victimise any academic or non-academic staffers who chose not to support the various industrial actions in word as “it was their right to do so.” Not all were in agreement with Ifiill though. “They should not get none of the 10% because they ain’t go through the struggle,” remarked one non-academic staff member, to which several other staffers nodded and otherwise indicated similar sentiments.

Ifill, however, said that all staffers should indeed benefit from the rewards to come, while expressing optimism that the gains made may convince them to participate if there is a need to take industrial action again.

And General Secretary of the Guyana Trade Unions Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis, says the option of striking again must indeed always be left on the table. In an invited comment Lewis told the staffers that he was impressed with the leadership demonstrated by Ifill and assured the staffers that, in his opinion, “your business is in good hands.”

Finally, Lincoln praised the union for successfully negotiating a non-reduction of salaries for hours not worked, explaining that this sets a precedent for other unions to follow.

The vast majority of the university’s staffers started the semester with a sit-in following a failure to meet an agreement with the administration on a proposed wage-hike and additional benefits during the break. Several factors, including a decision by the administration to pull back its negotiating team in light of the unions’ refusal to call of industrial actions during negotiations, triggered an intensification of such undertakings. 

The unions said in a joint statement that they had maintained from the beginning, that they were forced to first sit-in and then to strike as a result of a series of events, detailed below.