MBOMBELA – Protests at the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) and ongoing negotiations between staff and management have delayed semester tests and students were unable to attend classes this week.
Staff held demonstrations against the current recruitment process, demanding higher salaries, as well as a Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) payout by today (Friday). They were clad in red National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union shirts, with numerous placards and vuvuzelas in hand to voice their grievances.
Earlier this week, the management committee of the university (Manco) proposed a salary adjustment of seven per cent, but staff turned the offer down as they were only prepared to consider a double-digit offer. Tension on the campus has also been mounting as former Lowveld Agricultural College employees have been struggling to get work under the new structures at the university.
A positive outcome of the demonstration, was the fact that Manco confirmed the payment of the pension funds and that any possible delays would be communicated. Human resources will also endeavour to source a representative from GEPF to assist with the forms in terms of quality assurance and accuracy of the information.
Staff members were also concerned that the recruitment process at the university was marginalising them. Former Lowveld Argricultural College employees who applied for advertised posts, could apparently not compete fairly due to new recruitment standards at the university.
According to management all posts are filled based on the approved structure by council, which was linked to the academic programme roll-out. Recruitment also started at the top to create the executive capacity in order to ensure a communication channel between council structures and management.
According to Mr Benson Nkuna, a lecturer at the university, the staff was unhappy with the harmonisation processes that are currently in place.
“We demand equal rights and privileges with regards to workplace equality and recruitment,” Nkuna said.
Demonstrators also demanded that they should be able to apply and be considered for the National Tertiary Retirement Fund. Staff members felt that their salaries and service conditions were far below the norm of what other institutions of higher learning were providing.
They demanded a benchmarking exercise to provide comparisons and highlight gaps.
At the time of going to print, Prof John Shongwe, UMP coordinator for liaison, communication and marketing, said the management committee and staff were having a meeting to respond to all issues raised.
