Striking DUT staff drop pay rise demand
UNIONS of striking Durban University of Technology (DUT) staff are willing to accept a 7.5% salary hike, a 1% fall from the 8% it had dropped to after its initial 10% demand.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and Tertiary Education National Union of SA (Tenusa) members have been on strike for six weeks.
The action reached deadlock last week resulting in the suspension of academic activities, with the university not budging from its 6.5% increase in salary and 6.5% in housing allowance.
The 6.5% housing allowance increase amounts to a R66 hike, while unions have been demanding a R200 housing allowance increase.
Nehawu’s chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Phakamani Ndunakazi, said unions would be meeting at the weekend to discuss a strategy in preparation for Tuesday, when the deputy minister of higher education is expected at the university.
“We have been here almost four times, meeting management and even the university’s council. It’s clear that the people who are on strike here is management,” said Ndunakazi.
He had been speaking yesterday at DUT’s Steve Biko campus where staff were gathered and picketing while students picketed outside before moving inside in solidarity with staff.
“We have been negotiating with management at DUT for the past 12 years without any issues but now there’s new management, there’s issues,” said Nehawu chairperson at the DUT branch Michael Mbatha.
Docked
He said management was using dirty tricks to divide the workers on strike.
He was referring to staff salaries being docked, as well as the lockout implemented yesterday which prohibits striking workers from protesting on campus.
Mbatha explained that they had not expected full docked salaries at this point. Instead they had thought management would discuss with unions how this money (for days not worked during the strike) would be deducted.
“It’s very inhuman to dock the whole salary of the poor working class,” he said.
Adding their demands were legitimate and reasonable, Mbatha said: “We are the people who work at this institution and without us this institution can’t function.”
He also expressed concern over students losing out on their classes and reiterated that staff were more than prepared to go back to work and help students catch up.
“Provided that management comes back to the table and solve the problem. But now what they want to do is break the strike and that’s not solving the problem,” he said.
At a media briefing this week, the DUT’s vice-chancellor, Thandwa Mthembu, urged staff to return to work while negotiations continued.
He said unions had also declined the institution’s request for arbitration, forcing the university to enforce the no work, no pay principal.
DUT deputy SRC president Siphiwe Vilakazi said the institution was not treating students like their clients who had paid for a service to be provided.
“We want to go back to class. Management and staff need to resolve their issues by themselves. I don’t understand why we must suffer because of their issues. We have joined the workers in solidarity so that we can go back to class,” he said.
Vilakazi said the SRC had met staff and management, and expected a meeting to take place on Tuesday with all parties including the SRC.
EFF student command’s Nkosinathi Ndwandwe called for unity among all students as they were all affected by the strike.