Staff members of the Government Technical Institute (GTI) are up in arms against the institute’s principal over his reported refusal to recognize the elected President of the Staff Association, Delphine Bakker.
While Stabroek News was unable to contact Principal Onwuzirike Patrick Chinedu, he had previously said he was not authorized to speak to the media.
However, this newspaper has seen correspondence in which he said he was not prepared to recognize Bakker as president of the association.
Several staff members with whom this newspaper spoke have expressed anger over the principal’s actions, pointing out that he could not select anyone to head their association. Moreover, they said, Bakker was elected because she had a proven track record.
Efforts to contact Bakker, who was re-elected as president of the association only recently, have been futile as she has since declared that she can no longer speak to the media.
“The association has not been able to function because of the principal’s attitude and this is really affecting staff members,” one staff member told this newspaper.
According to reports reaching this newspaper after Bakker was re-elected the principal summoned the staff members and ordered that another election be held. Another election was held and Bakker was again elected and Chinedu has since indicated that he was not prepared to work with her.
Recently the principal had another meeting with staff members during which he was questioned by the staff about why he was not prepared to work with Bakker. He would only say that it was “personal”.
“But if it is personal then he has to thrash it out with her, he has not said what wrong she is doing professionally…,” a staff member said.
It is understood that the chairman of the institute’s board of governors, Norman McLean met with the principal and Bakker and Chinedu again indicated that he was not prepared to work with her although McLean was reportedly in support of her remaining at the head of the association.
Bakker was the head of the association when it led protest action in an effort to secure a pay hike for the part-time lecturers. The strike action had led to the lecturers receiving an increase of $200 to the hourly rate offered and while they had said they were not prepared to accept the miserly increase, Stabroek News understands that they have received no further offer.
At the time of the strike she had disclosed that the technicians are paid $175 per hour and while non-graduate and graduate part-time lecturers are paid $500 per hour, those lecturers with Master’s degrees are being paid $800 per hour.
Some of the lecturers put in as much as 46 hours a week at the institute and it is believed that they make up 65% of the teaching staff. Bakker has been at the institute for some 15 years and others have been there longer. They said that while they are committed to the institute and the students they also have to look out for themselves.
