UG unions to seek probe of Berbice campus’ management

-director says facility is model, despite challenges

University of Guyana Berbice Campus (UGBC) staff members have registered complaints to the unions about the management of the campus, describing Director, Professor Daizal Samad as “dictatorial,” but he says the institution is a model despite its challenges.

“The campus is so badly managed that we are prompted to write to the administration to urgently investigate the management… We will write to the Chancellor [Marlene Cox, Deputy Chancellor] asking for an urgent meeting to address those problems and based on her response we will decide what will be our next move,” University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) President Dr. Patsy Francis on Wednesday told Stabroek News.

Dr. Patsy Francis

“I thought they [the staff] would raise only minor problems but I did not at all expect such vigorous complaints in light of Samad’s recent statements in the press… it was interesting what they had to say about him… whether they were junior or senior staff, they all were complaining and the issues were disturbing,” Francis added.

Francis had said that the unions have called on the staff to take forms of industrial action if necessary but they will first work towards engaging the administration in discussions about the issues faced at the UGBC.

Members of the UGSSA and the University of Guyana Workers Unions (UGWU) on Tuesday travelled to the Tain Campus and met with approximately 25 staff members. Francis said that the UGBC staff has no clear guidelines about the management structure and have asked that a document which was prepared several years ago in this regard be revisited. “Basically, the people are saying that the man (Samad) is dictatorial. Whatever he says is law, the staff has no say,” Francis reported. There were claims that there is no participation by the staff in decision making and it was also reported that the board no longer meets. “Basically, there is no academic freedom at UGBC,” Francis said.

Samad, who has been the Director for two and a half years, on Wednesday agreed that there are indeed no clear guidelines and that the management structure was hurriedly organised. “If you look at the act and statutes, we almost don’t exist,” he noted while adding that this is being rectified by the consultants from Jamaica.

According to Samad, firm guidelines are needed. “We need to be much more nimble and responsive, not only in day-to-day management but in terms of funding and so on. Until we are nimble, we will always be behind,” he admitted.

Samad said the complaints that staff had no say in decision making are as a result of the poor structural organisation. He, however, noted that the “staff have 24/7, 365 access to me” and that a lot of ideas have come from individual faculty members as well as students and even the janitor. “We are working very hard and very well in spite of what I call an almost unworkable system.

Daizal Samad

In relation to the board, Samad said a meeting has not been called since the beginning of this year but noted that individual members engage him constantly.

He further questioned why so much money should be spent on a meeting when “there is nothing on the agenda.” “I will confess, we are long on action but short on meetings,” he added.

‘A good example’

Samad told this newspaper that he does not necessarily agree with the strategies of the unions although he is in almost complete agreement with what they want.

He said that UG needs to be much more innovative in garnering funds and needs to be fiscally self-sufficient and much more responsive to the needs of the people of the nation. “Thus far, I don’t feel we are sufficiently responsive to the taxpayers that keep us alive,” he explained.

Samad did, however, point out that he has been involved in work across the sectors of Berbice, including the private sector, NGOs, citizens, groups, etc. UGBC, he said, is the hub of almost all activities in Berbice and noted that the communities are very responsive to the institution.

Samad said that while there is much to complain about, UGBC can be considered as a model in spite of the challenges. He explained that 86% of the staff two and a half years ago only had first degrees but currently, 86% of them have masters degrees or higher and those who still have first degrees are “active” in their scholarship. “UGBC is not perfect but it’s a good example,” he said.

According to Francis, staff members of the Tain campus have accused Samad of selectively affording persons grants to attend conferences and other such events while persons with merit are not allowed.

“That is sad,” Samad said when asked about this. He acknowledged that agriculture and the sciences are prioritised but, at the same time, he said the administration is fully supportive of the work of the other faculties. He added that while he would like staff to be rewarded, rewards need to be tied to performance.

Francis recently told Stabroek News that it has been some time now since the UGBC staff had called upon the unions to visit the campus and help in highlighting their issues as they did earlier this year at the Turkeyen Campus. She noted that many persons expressed fear of being victimised if they had been found publicising matters affecting them.

“We had problems at the Turkeyen campus so we couldn’t go to Berbice as urgently as they would have liked us to but they kept calling and so we went,” she added.

In addition to this, she noted that staff members related that despite statements made by colleagues and Director Samad, more than half of the full time teaching staff of the UGBC had participated in the industrial action taken earlier this year at the Turkeyen Campus. To prove this, Francis pointed out that many of the staff members of the UGBC experienced salary deductions only recently.

‘Operation Rescue UG’ was established earlier this year by the University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS), the UGSSA and the UGWU to work towards addressing employment and teaching conditions at the Turkeyen Campus.

It saw various forms of industrial action before an eventual strike. Minister of Labour Dr Nanda Gopaul subsequently called a meeting with the members of the unions and terms for resumption were brokered. However, to date, hardly any of the terms of the agreement have been fulfilled, the unions have said.