THE University of Guyana (UG) Council has made some progress on deliberations regarding the recent contention on salary increases allotted to the institution’s staff and the manner by which these were given.
On Thursday, the Council concluded a meeting on the matter, but the outcome has not been disclosed.

In November 2018, the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and the University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) in a release to the media, had described the situation as a “crisis” waiting to happen.

Their discomfort was in relation to the university’s administration “imposed increases” of three per cent for all eligible UA (Academic) staff and four per cent for all eligible UB (Support) staff who were set to be paid by Thursday, for the Christmas break.
The unions had contended that the decision is a violation of labour principles for the awarding of salary increases which ought to be negotiated and not imposed.

Furthermore, they stated that since January 2018, they had made several attempts to prioritise the discussion of wages and salaries for staff for 2018 with the administration to no avail.
In responding to the announced increases, the unions also made known their disappointment that the Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GPC) of the university had given its stamp of approval to the decision.

In a letter to the media, they vowed to fight the “deeply disrespectful” actions.
Speaking with Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, UGSSA President, Dr. Jewel Thomas said while she cannot yet reveal the meeting’s conclusions, she is personally pleased by the manner in which deliberations are now being held.

“The decisions that Council made today are ‘embargoed’ until the new year because Council would like to see the written documentation so that all parties can agree on what is the outcome. We have to wait until [this is done] so that there’s no opportunity for interpretation, so that the words that are written there are the ones that we agree upon,” she said.

Dr Thomas added: “From my personal perspective, I am contented with the deliberations. But, I am waiting to see the written documentation of the meeting before I say definitively that we will accept totally what has occurred, but the manner of the discussion I am contented with how that went,” she said.

The UGSSA President said that some of the executives on the Council who were absent are also to be brought up to speed on matters deliberated before the conclusion is made public.
Prior to Thursday’s meeting, another was also held on Tuesday to discuss a similar but separate matter.

“It was two separate but related issues. One of our contentions was that an increase should not have been imposed but it should be negotiated with the union. So, essentially, the matter should not have been brought before F&GTC in the first place, at least not without first engaging and consulting the unions and seeing if we would have a discussion with the administration about it, but instead, it was brought directly to the F&GTC, that was the first issue of discussion,” she said.

The second issue dealt with the amount of money offered to workers which Dr. Thomas said would see deliberation continuing into 2019.

“[Regarding] the amounts offered, the way in which the eventual decision of F&GTC was worded does allow for there to be additional negotiations on the amounts offered and so… this is a separate issue in the sense that they have asked us to renegotiate further on 2018. So we hope to meet them early in the New Year. We hope that there should be a meeting to discuss the outstanding matters for 2018 early in the New Year,” she stated.