Tertiary educators to show solidarity with UWI colleagues demanding pay hike
EDUCATORS WHO are part of the West Indies Group of University Teachers ( WIGUT ), more specifically, from The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, are threatening industrial action if a regional and internationally competitive salary is not offered to them soon.
The educators are hoping to see an increase of 60 per cent in their salaries.
In a newsletter f rom t he negotiations committee, published Friday with subheadings including ‘Wi Brok!’, ‘So Den Wa?’, and ‘Deliverance at Hand?’, the educators made their disgust known to The UWI Mona students and the general public.
“For 10 months, from February to November 2023, we lobbied, wrote letters, met with officers of the university and the Ministry of Finance [and the Public Service]. We finally ran out of patience. In December 2023, we threatened to take industrial action by January 5, 2024,” the newsletter stated. “The threat worked. We got a meeting with the minister of education and minister of finance on January 4, 2024. A committee made up of the Ministry of Finance, The UWI, and the three unions representing UWI workers at different levels has been set up. The committee is to recommend, by January 31, 2024, an interim cost-of-living salary adjustment. That adjustment is to hold us while we await compensation review. Meanwhile, we are holding strain.”
‘SHOW OF SOLIDARITY’
In correspondence to other WIGUT members, General Secretary Anthia Muirhead indicated last week that there would be a “show of solidarity” today between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and that members would be expressing their support across social media platforms.
Should the network of educators not be given an offer they are in favour of, they warned that they could not assure full operation of the island’s top tertiary-level institution,
“We would need a 60 per cent increase in salary to put us on par with our colleagues on the Cave Hill Campus of UWI in Barbados. These are colleagues doing the same work as us, in the same institution as us, and with the same qualifications as us. The buying power of what we are being paid has fallen steeply over the past 10-20 years,” the first paragraph of the newsletter stated.
The educators also indicated that many of the best and brightest teachers, researchers, and others had been recruited overseas, and “when good people leave”, the vacancies created are hard to fill.
“The university advertises the vacant posts internationally. Overseas-based applicants are interested until they hear what they will earn. The university never hears from them again. We fear that the steady outflow of highquality staff will become a flood. You as students will most certainly be affected,” the newsletter stated.
Some years ago, the Government of Jamaica started a large-scale compensation review for the public sector that includes these educators. This review, the Government said, was to “retain and attract” the best to work in the public sector.
By April 2023, compensation review had been completed for nearly all of the public sector, and new salaries were paid. Hoever, the UWI Mona staff were left out in the cold. At that time, compensation review had not yet begun for them. The earliest possible starting date, the Government has said, is April 2024, and even that date is not sure.