Imbert trying to stop UWI shutdown

NO progress was made yesterday to avert a shutdown of the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI). It is expected that the campus will grind to a halt on Monday since the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT) cannot guarantee there will be classes. At a press conference Thursday, principal Dr Bhoe Tewarie pleaded for Government to resolve negotiations for academic, senior administrative and other staff. WIGUT is asking for a 30 percent increase to cover the period 2002 to 2005. Government has offered a 15 percent increase, which WIGUT has rejected. Discussions for the new agreement began in January last year. Line minister for UWI, Tertiary Education Minister Colm Imbert, yesterday told Newsday he was, “hopeful that I can get some movement out of the committee (Public Sector Negotiations Committee — PSNC) very early next week.”

Imbert also conveyed his position to WIGUT president Vishnudat Singh. Singh told Newsday the union met with Tewarie yesterday during lunch time. He said the meeting was “amicable and unfortunately there was no change in the position.” He said Tewarie received a letter from Imbert  Thursday evening stating he (Imbert) was still exploring ways by which he could get a new or enhanced remit. He said Monday has been designated “Black Day.” Yesterday’s “Red Day,” said Singh, was a success, even though he could not provide a percentage of the staff members who wore red. He said, “What we wanted was to alert the national community to the dire circumstances.” He said they would continue to withhold students’ last semester results, declaring, “it is not fatal to the students.” Singh reiterated that the welfare of the students is always taken into consideration.

Singh added that even if Government increased its offer by one percent, the union will know it is acting in good faith and will return to the negotiating table. In a release on Thursday, WIGUT said the UWI administration considered a 20 percent increase to be a reasonable settlement figure, pointing to the implementation of the 2002 Salaries Review Commission (SRC) recommendation to give a 21 percent increase to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a 35 percent increase to senior public servants. It also pointed out that the SRC had agreed to a close to 40 percent increase for members of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, and the 23-28 percent increase given to the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA).

WIGUT argued that their colleagues at Cave Hill campus in Barbados also received increases which put them “about 20 percent higher than our salaries.” WIGUT also contended that it had been reliably informed that assistant professors, associate professors and professors at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) were getting salaries between $20,000 to $25,000 plus a 20 percent gratuity in lieu of pension. They said that put the assistant professors salary at UTT 43 percent higher than a UWI lecturer, with the additional ten percent UWI contributes to the pension fund. Meanwhile students on campus told Newsday they fully understand the position of staff members and they are willing to take make up classes.