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CCNTV6
  • 10 months ago
The UWI St Augustine Students Guild failed today to get the West Indies Group of University Teachers to back down on their protest action as they press for better pay packages.
Transcript
00:00Over 20,000 grades of UB St. Augustine students are being withheld as the West Indian group
00:06of university teachers ramp up their protest action.
00:10The Students' Guild met with the union in an attempt to find a resolution this afternoon,
00:16but none was had.
00:17Genuinely, we understand their cause.
00:20We think it is deserving that they get their pay increase.
00:23They are the academics of the region, they are the ones that push the region to where
00:26it needs to be.
00:27However, we can't necessarily support any action that would cause any individual student
00:32to be affected.
00:33So in terms of their protest action itself, we cannot support it.
00:37In the past, a pass list was published by the lecturers so students would know their
00:42standing before registering for second semester courses.
00:46This time around, the students are waiting for the CPO to present an offer to WGAT after
00:51the group submitted a salary adjustment proposal in March of this year.
00:56When a student doesn't get an accurate reflection of their grade, their transcript now becomes
01:01compromised.
01:02So your transcript is needed for things like gate processing, it's needed for things like
01:06scholarships, it's needed for things like financial aid.
01:08So that puts students in a position where it now affects their academic and financial
01:14capabilities.
01:15So that is why we would like for a very, very swift agreement to be made between the ministry
01:20and WGAT to resolve their salary increase because we do want our lecturers to be paid
01:24fairly.
01:25They deserve to be paid fairly.
01:26However, the one thing that we cannot support and will continue to not support is the protest
01:30action.
01:31Registration, including late registration, ends in the second week of teaching, that
01:37is, mid-February.
01:38Our very last result, the protest action, is not something we would like to go to, but
01:43however, it's not something that we wouldn't go to.
01:45President of WGAT Dr. Indira Rampersad says after radio silence from government, the group
01:50has no choice.
01:51This week we have been asking, you saw the bulletin, no academic advice, and a lot of
01:55things go on at the beginning.
01:58Students need holes removed, overrides, examinations will be held.
02:03We are boycotting all of that, all meetings, at the faculty level, at the department level.
02:10And everything to do with exams, so no grades, we're trying to shut down the system, no library
02:14services, extra work, we've got to do extra work, late library services, registry, Banner,
02:22which is a system in which the mark's going to be also shut down, Banner.
02:25The disgruntled group of university lecturers are working for the least money when compared
02:30to other UWE campuses.
02:32And if government does not make an offer, WGAT promises a vicious cycle to persist.
02:37The government has to act, they cannot treat UWE lecturers like this, and they cannot say
02:42it's about money because they found money to pay themselves.
02:46So on the Salvation Army Commission recommendations, they were able to pay the Prime Minister 47%
02:51increase back pay, millions of dollars, and all of them are between $10,000 and $12,000
02:56increase per month.
02:58Their last adjustment was in 2014, and since then, the university has faced an unprecedented
03:04rate of attrition.
03:05Dr. Rampersad says the quality of education at UWE St. Augustine is at stake, as the university
03:11faces the inability of filling vacancies, and eventually having to accept underqualified
03:16persons to fill posts.
03:18In the meantime, students are asking for the late fee to be waived, and that the UWE administration
03:24communicate with the gate office and sponsors, explaining that the delays are beyond the
03:29control of students.
03:30Urvashi Tiwari, Rupanarayan TV6 News.
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