UG industrial action to begin again tomorrow

The University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) and the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) intend to recommence industrial action from tomorrow until June 26, pointing to the university’s failure to adhere to previous agreements.

UGWU and UGSSA in a press release stated that they intend to recommence industrial action in the form of picketing exercises. “We are dismayed at the lack of respect shown to the workers of the university by the council members on the negotiating team who failed to attend the meeting to commence negotiations on the memorandum of demands submitted by the unions,” the release said.

It added that this is the second instance in which the university’s administration had breached the Resumption of Terms Agreement, notwithstanding the unions to date satisfying all the conditions under the said agreement.

The unions said that under such circumstances, they have little choice but to once again publicly call attention to the urgency of the issues that confront them, by demonstrating peacefully.

Meanwhile, the release stated that a proposal to reunite the UGWU and the UGSSA under one umbrella was to be examined, adding that the last six months of industrial action had demonstrated to the executives of both unions that they share the same cause.