Following extensive negotiations with the two university unions, the Administration extended its final offer of eight percent (8%) to UB staff members and six percent (6%) to UA members for the 2017 calendar year, retroactive to January 1, 2017. This offer was conveyed to the union presidents on August 30, 2017, in the context of what is affordable in keeping with the mandate by the University Council. Moreover, Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith has stressed from the outset that performance of staff members will be a key consideration.

The Administration has honored all requests by the unions for financial and other information during the period of the negotiation, which began on July 12. It is to be noted, as well, that exclusion of the University’s executive members from the negotiation package and consequential benefits was communicated clearly and unambiguously to the unions on September 20, 2017 in a letter which stated that, “the administration is committed to consummating an agreement that will not include members of the executive, but will include elements of performance ...’

Also, the Administration reiterates what the unions know and what has been shared with the University community, most recently in a September 27, 2017 note from the Vice-Chancellor: that “increases in base salaries and pension are not the only financial obligations the University has to bear. These obligations include benefits such as allowances for travelling, entertainment, uniforms and academic materials; study leave (salary and housing for three months); sabbatical leave (salary and housing for 12 months); leave passage; and duty allowance for Deans, Heads and Co-coordinators.” In addition, as was indicated in the New Academic Year Welcome Back memorandum from the Vice-Chancellor, “The University continues to pay an average of 4.5 percent merit award to all eligible members of the staff annually.”

In his September 27, 2017 update to the University community, Vice-Chancellor Griffith noted, “I am ready to sign the agreement and begin the payments. If the agreement is signed within the next 10 days, the payments can be made with the October 2017 salaries.” The Vice-Chancellor takes this opportunity to thank the hundreds of dedicated academic and non-academic staff members for their exemplary service, and looks forward to the collective efforts to enhance the University’s teaching and learning, research, and service to the University community and the wider society.

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UG IN BRIEF

With a current enrollment of some 8,000 students, The University of Guyana (UG) has graduated more than 20,000 students who have gone on to successful careers locally, regionally and internationally. The University is also a major contributor to the national economy and to business and industry. Established in 1963 on a part-time basis with shared space at Queens College, UG moved to its own campus at Turkeyen in 1970 and expanded in 2000 with the addition of the Tain Campus. It now offers more than 60 Under- graduate and Post-graduate Programmes including Engineering, Environmental Studies, Forestry, Urban Planning and Management, Tourism Studies, Education, Creative Arts, Economics, Law, Medicine, Optometry and Nursing. Several online programmes are available and The UG also offers extra-mural classes at four locations through its Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE). The UG also offers the opportunity for student engagement in debating, sports, and cultural, religious and professional activities.

Public Relations Division
September 30, 2017