President of the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT) Dr Godfrey Steele says yesterday’s “shutdown” of the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies was successful. Earlier this week, lecturers boycotted classes and threatened “to shut down” the campus hoping to send a warning to the authorities to improve their salary offer in parity with the other two campuses. There was hardly any academic activity taking place yesterday between 10 am and noon as several lecturers heeded WIGUT’s call. Lecture rooms on the ground floor of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences building were empty.
There was no seating available in Subway and Rituals Coffee as students were busy chatting, playing cards or on their laptops. A crew of workmen was busy erecting tents in the “quadrangle” for the Food Fest Expo hosted by the Ministry of Food Production. One student said he was unaware of “any shutdown” and added since WIGUT had been protesting over the last few weeks he was lucky his lecturers were in attendance. Another said the lecturers should be given what was due to them and all effort should be made to settle “this fiasco before exams start.”
A Jamaican student, who gave his name as Alfi, said: “Students are the ones who will be affected and I am hoping there will not be any major disruptions around examination time.” Steele said his “feedback” was that there was a high level of absenteeism. He said: “We are always ready and willing to meet with the campus administrators and the Government to have discussions.” Steele said WIGUT had been trying to resolve negotiations since June 2008. Meanwhile, public relations officer of the UWI Guild of Students Mervin Agiste said given the fragile state of the economy, lecturers shouldn’t expect an increase. He said, however, if there was money available, then they should be paid. Steele said WIGUT would be meeting today to discuss a way forward.
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