UFH staff striking for wage increases, disrupt exams
EXAMS at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) were disrupted yesterday morning when more than 500 unionised academic and non-academic staff went on strike and switched off the electricity supply at both the East London and Alice campuses.
Nehawu unionists who are involved in a standoff over wage increases with university management, downed tools yesterday.
They have been negotiating for nine months.
Workers are demanding 12% , while the university say they can only offer 6%.
They are also demanding a R500-amonth increase of their housing allowance and an across-the-board notch progression of 5%, but the university say they can only afford R100 housing allowance increase and no increase in notch progression.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has also voiced their intention to join the strike.
The SRC and ANC Youth League criticised the unions for not consulting with students and for stopping students from progressing.
UFH spokesman Khotso Moabi said with the university’s current financial situation “there was no room” to meet striking workers’ demands.
“Considering the university’s financial situation, these demands will put the viability of the institution at risk.”
An internal e-mail sent by the university’s interim deputy vice-chancellor Professor Majova Songca to the union’s branch secretary Mzi Lingela on the eve of the strike, warned that the university will apply a “no work, no pay” principle.
Unfazed by the warning, Lingela yesterday told the Dispatch that the striking workers would not end their strike for anything less than a 10% wage increase and that unions would prevent teaching and learning at the university.
“It’s just a harmless threat they always use when they are trying to defuse us. We will only go back to our stations when we get a 10% increase. The other demands we can discuss after the 10%,” said Mzi.
The students are left with five days of exams.
Lingela, who accused UFH management of being arrogant, said the strike comes after nine months of failed negotiations and failed efforts before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
“The union has been engaged in salary negotiations with management for the past nine months. The university management team continues to demonstrate arrogance as they did not even attend the CCMA session, but only to send a team without any executive powers to take decisions.”
At the East London campus, students who were seen standing around, said they were in the dark about the developments and were still waiting for the official word from management.