GOPEESINGH SUPPORTS WIGUT

CCNTV6

Former Education Minister and Former Dean of Medicine at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Tim Gopeesingh weighs in on the continuing fallout between government and members of West Indies Group of University Teachers ( WIGUT)  With an offer of 6% now on the table, no one knows what will happen next.  Nicole M Romany has more.

Transcript

00:00Dr. Gupi Singh tells TV6 he understands the plight of both the protesting

00:06teachers and the students being impacted by the withheld grades. However, he says

00:12it's been 11 years since these negotiations have been ongoing and that

00:17is unfair. The Wigat president previously vowed that the union would be

00:22taking action to shut down the entire UB St. Augustine campus if no

00:27remit was offered for the outstanding bargaining period of 11 years. On Friday,

00:32the finance minister offered a 6% salary increase for the period of 2014 to 2020.

00:39However, the union is yet to respond. On Monday, Dr. Gupi Singh said the offer is

00:46unsatisfactory. It's really a nominal increase of 1% from 002 to 003 and 002

00:55to 003. So, that basically is of no value to the university lecturers and

01:03professors. 11 years later, whatever they give them, even though they give them 5%

01:08at the net present value, what that salary would have been if they

01:13were given in 2017 and in 2020. And now, even though they finish these

01:19negotiations for 2017 and 2020, you still have 5 more years to go. Dr. Gupi

01:26Singh says it is unfortunate that the students are caught in the middle. Last

01:31week, the Student Guild promised to engage in their own protest if the

01:35industrial action of their professors continued. Today, Dr. Gupi Singh says, the

01:41lecturers deserve better from the state. I believe the West Indies group of

01:46unified teachers should stand strong and ensure that they get a better

01:52increase and they should, the government through the Ministry of Finance and the

01:59university should move expeditiously to settle this situation. It is

02:04untenable. The students are in the middle of this at the moment and there are

02:10thousands of students. Dr. Gupi Singh also suggests that the university make

02:15efforts to generate income for itself. Where is the university in having the

02:21various departments like engineering and medicine generating their own funding to

02:27be self-sufficient? So, it lacks leadership from there to some extent and

02:31it also lacks leadership from the government through the Ministry of

02:35Finance. Many universities around the world are self-sufficient from

02:40philanthropy and from generating of research funding and from generation of

02:45funds from being consultants at a national level and an

02:52international level. Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.

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