Unions vow to strike if WSU turns down 12% hike request

Walter Sisulu University workers have given management until Monday to come up with an offer that will convince them not to down tools later this month.

At the centre of the dispute is the demand from the more than 2000 workers for a 12% salary increase, effective from April 1. But the university says it is so cash-strapped that it can only afford to increase salaries by 6.3%.

Both the National Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) leaders, who attended a heated meeting with university management in East London on Thursday, asked the university to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better offer.

Nehawu’s Mcebisi Jojo said the negotiations had reached a deadlock by March 28, when the university presented its final proposal of 6.3%.

He said they had talks for three days at the end of March and the 10 days requested by the university was a move by them to prevent the unions from pronouncing that they had reached a deadlock.

“We sat for three days in meetings with management representatives, but they still wanted time to go and consult.

“We are not sure what is going to be different when they come back,” Jojo said.

Union leaders were adamant yesterday that if the university did not reconsider its 6.3% offer, workers would be left with no choice but to embark on a strike.

Walter Sisulu spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo said currently 64% of the university’s budget was spent on wages, while the national benchmark is 62%. She said the university staff were well aware of the financial demands placed on the university.

“Negotiations with WSU unions Nehawu and NTEU are at an advanced but sensitive stage. Management made a higher than inflation proposal of 6.3% salary increase.

“ ...we have heavy financial demands to improve ailing infrastructure in residences and lecture halls, for example. We have to try and satisfy the needs of staff. It is an extremely difficult balancing act.”

Any protest action by workers will further impact negatively on the 2018 academic calendar, as students have just resumed classes after a three-week break.

This was after thousands of students blockaded roads, burning old mattresses while demanding better conditions in their residences.

Some of the protests were so violent that WSU vice-chancellor Rob Midgley suspended all academic programmes last month. Classes resumed on Monday this week.