Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh has called on the Finance Minister to refer the negotiations between the UWI St Augustine and the government to the Industrial Court.
Members of the West Indian Group of University Teachers (WIGUT) protested last week over still being on 2014 salaries. UWI’s management executive said they are hampered by a lack of funding from the government.
Speaking during the UNC’s virtual conference on November 24, Indarsingh referred to a tweet made by Imbert on X (formerly Twitter) on November 24, in which Imbert urged protesting UWI lecturers to use the dispute resolution procedures to settle their current wage dispute.
“I want to tell the Finance Minister, he is speaking pure hogwash. What is the middle ground? They have destroyed the middle ground. Why have they taken ten years to negotiate? They are negotiating through the public domain. They are trying to vilify the trade unions and their membership for seeking a decent wage.
“The dispute resolution mechanism has been destroyed...
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"Where is the national tri-partite council, which was supposed to be the mechanism to deal with social matters of national interest, whether from an industrial relations point of view or any other in the welfare of TT?”
Indarsingh said if government could not negotiate in good faith, there was a dispute resolution mechanism under the Industrial Relations Act.
“Refer the matter to the Labour Ministry or the Industrial Court for conciliation and let the independent institution pronounce on negotiations or pronounce on whatever agreements that have been agreed to between parties under the Industrial Relations Act.”
Indarsingh said he was reliably informed government owes UWI approximately $1.5 billion in fees.
“Why has the management of UWI St Augustine not been able to settle these negotiations after following up diligently on the outstanding proposals, in spite of assurances given in meetings and national budget presentations to the principal of UWI?”
He asked how many professional lecturers had exited UWI to look for greener pastures abroad because the university had been unable to pay salaries comparative to those at higher-education institutions worldwide.
“The St Augustine campus has not been able to settle negotiations when the negotiations at the Cave Hill and Mona campuses have been settled long after the negotiations at St Augustine began.
“We want to find out if there is a human-resource crisis facing the UWI as it continues to lose full-time lecturers. Is the university able to find or attract suitably qualified replacements?
"Has the university resorted to hiring post-graduate students on a part-time basis?
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"Are the PM, Finance Minister and Education Minister aware that this can adversely affect UWI’s accreditation as a tertiary-level institution?”
Indarsingh said there is a industrial-relations crisis in TT. He asked why the negotiations with port workers, NIB, TTEC, UWI and others were in disarray.
