Walter Sisulu University lecturers to strike over wage talks

Walter Sisulu University (WSU) management is facing a total shutdown across all campuses on Wednesday.

The university and its teaching staff are deadlocked in talks about a wage increase, with employees seeking an 8% hike and management offering 6.3%.

As many as 2,000 employees took to the streets in Eastern Cape towns where WSU has branches on Tuesday morning after wage talks collapsed.

Union leaders held gatherings at the university’s four campuses to report on the stalemate and to declare a full-blown protected strike.

Vice-chancellor Rob Midgley has insisted the standard “nowork no-pay” rule will apply for all the strikes.

Mcebisi Jojo of the National Health, Education and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) said there was only one campus where workers had reported for duty — Nelson Mandela Drive — but these employees would join Wednesday’s strike.

He said the campus was not represented in the mass meeting held at the Ibika campus in Butterworth on Monday.

“Only one campus is reporting, which is NMD [Nelson Mandela Drive]. They were not represented yesterday [Monday] in our mass gathering in Butterworth but have since been briefed and will join the protest,” said Jojo.

Unions are calling for the resignation of Midgley, who took over in 2016 from then interim vice-chancellor Khaya Mfenyana. Nehawu and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) have been negotiating with management for the past four months.

Last week, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration granted the unions a certificate for a legal strike.

Jojo said they had written to Midgley advising him to resign. He claimed Midgley did not have the best interests of the university at heart and the wage negotiation process was indicative of his attitude.

“We hear through the helpdesk that the VC keeps reminding employees of the no-work no-pay policy, which we are well aware of. We view this as intimidation and it does not depict an attitude of someone who wants to resolve issues. Until that changes, the strike is in full swing,” said Jojo.

University spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo defended the presence of extra security on campuses, saying this was the procedure during all protests.

“Employees have the right to strike, and some employees have waived that right. The university therefore has the responsibility to keep all its employees safe.

“The request for back-up [security] is a precautionary measure that is taken every time we are faced with such a situation,” said Tukwayo.