The West Indian Group of University Teachers have accepted Government's most recent offer of 0-0-3, 0-0-3 for two consecutive bargaining periods. This marks the end of their demonstrations and the return of normalcy at the University of the west Indies St Augustine campus. I spoke exclusively with the President of Wigut Dr Indira Rampersad for this update.
00:00The executive of the West Indian Group of University Teachers spent the past few days crunching numbers to get a realistic view of what the government's proposal means to them.
00:11Some were sceptical, it's not ideal, it's not perfect, it's not huge, it's not 47%, it's not what even the lowest rung of public officials were getting from the SCR report.
00:22The membership took a vote on Thursday.
00:25We are in a state of emergency, we have an interim prime, pending interim prime minister, we have acting now commissioner of police.
00:37They decided that in this state of uncertainty and flux that it would be in their best interest to accept.
00:46The union negotiates with the chief personnel officer through campus management headed by Principal Rosemarie Antwine.
00:53She was very worried about this week, which was blackout week, blackout blitz.
00:57And it was looming on Monday that there was going to be a complete shutdown with the STEM operations, particularly the IT operations.
01:06I would include Banner, MyLearning, these are platforms that the students use.
01:10And she was very worried about that blackout blitz February fury, which we launched this week.
01:17And so she sought vigorously to try to get, you know, some kind of compromise.
01:23But what is the mood of members?
01:26Well, glee, no celebration, no, you know, they're not elated.
01:30I think there is a sense of relief because this relief, this has been long and protracted.
01:36This is 2014 to 2020.
01:38We are settling, but we have been at it for five years.
01:41I've been with the president since December 2019.
01:44After COVID in 2023, we ramp up action because we couldn't take action in 2020 when COVID came on board.
01:52So it's very tiring.
01:54With a 6% increase, we ask Dr. Rampersad, does that mean salaries at the St.
01:59Augustine campus are now on par with other campuses of UWE or other tertiary institutions in Trinidad and Tobago?
02:08No, not by any means.
02:10It's actually, it's still preposterous.
02:13It's still a travesty in terms of the comparators.
02:16We explained that to our members.
02:18They are aware of this immediate decision with that in mind.
02:23We're nowhere near even salaries by any means.
02:25UTT and BlockJunk themselves are also getting more than us.
02:29On Thursday, members were instructed to cease all action and submit students' marks by Monday, February 10th at midnight.
02:37Dr. Rampersad says the increase was a compromise and will temporarily return the campus to normalcy,
02:43but she does not believe it will stop the mass migration of lecturers and the difficulties in filling vacancies at the St. Augustine campus.
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