Despite Government’s budgeted recommendation for staff to be paid 15 per cent salary increases for 2017, the University of Guyana (UG) has opted to disburse payment increases that are considerably less than what was proposed.
In a release issued on Saturday, the University observed that its negotiations with the two university unions yielded its final offer of eight per cent (8%) to UB staff members and six per cent (6%) to UA members. The union presidents learnt of the offer on August 30, and the negotiations began on July 12.
Vice-Chancellor at UG, Professor Ivelaw Griffith
UG justified the decrease on Government’s recommendation, viewing its offer in a context of “what is affordable in keeping with the mandate by the University Council.” It said, too, that the payments are for this calendar year, retroactive to January 1, 2017, adding that Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, had stressed from the outset that performance of staff members would have been a key consideration.
Vice-Chancellor Griffith had earlier this month said he was “ready to sign the agreement and begin the payments.” Following the announcement of the new offer, he thanked the academic and non-academic staff members for their “exemplary service”, and said he “looks forward to the collective efforts to enhance the University’s teaching and learning, research, and service to the University community and the wider society”. It is to be noted as well that exclusion of the University’s executive members from the negotiation package and consequential benefits was communicated to the unions on September 20, 2017. This was conveyed in a letter which stated that “the administration is committed to consummating an agreement that will not include members of the executive, but will include elements of performance…Also, the Administration reiterates what the unions know and what has been shared with the University community most recently in a September 27, 2017 note from the Vice-Chancellor that increases in base salaries and pensions are not the only financial obligations the University has to bear,” UG recalled on Saturday.
It said that obligations, including benefits such as allowances for travelling, entertainment, uniforms and academic materials; study leave (salary and housing for three months); sabbatical leave (salary and housing for 12 months); leave passage; and duty allowance for Deans, Heads and Co-coordinators will all be met should the deal be accepted.
Over the last several months, there were stalled negotiations between the UG Administration and the union bodies, so much so that workers staged several protest actions, demanding hefty salary increases, which had called for academic and non-academic staff to receive upticks of 23 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
In 2016, workers had said that while the UG Administration claimed it had no money to pay benefits, including 10 bursaries for their children who performed with distinction at national exams, it was at that time able to find “over $8 million to increase the salaries of statutory officers who had joined the university some 8 months ago prior. To this end, it was highlighted that the take-home pay of certain categories of staff amounted to approximately $1 million per month.
In March of this year, workers picketed their place of employment, from which they had demanded an early and urgent commencement of salary negotiations. These talks came some four months after that call.
