By Halshane Burke
Administrative staff at the University of Technology (UTech) are back on the job following a protest Monday morning over the failure of the administration to conclude a salary review exercise.
The University of Technology Administrative Staff Association (UTASA) is demanding that no adjustment be made to the salaries of staff until the outstanding review has been completed.
President of UTASA, Janet Grayson, says word came from Acting President Colin Gyles and Chancellor Lloyd Carney that the matter would be addressed in a week's time.
Mrs Grayson says the protesting workers agreed to return to work pending the outcome of the discussions with the Ministry of Education.
"Promises have been made to us on several occasions over the period and nothing has happened. So we are waiting to see if we can stand on the word of Mr. Carney, who is new to the post. He is our very new chancellor and so let us see what he’s saying. We’ll give him a week and we’ll go back to work," she declared.
UTech Chancellor Lloyd Carney has promised that the university will be pressing ahead to implement its leg of the administrative review.
He said the institution has reached out to the government for information on when the next phase of its compensation review process will be completed, and is awaiting feedback.
"As you know, the first phase happened last week. The next phase is to come that will impact the employees," he noted, adding that "There is some levelling and work [that] needs to be done on our side also."
"I gave a commitment that within a week, we’ll get back to [the workers] as to when we will be commencing the work or finishing the work that has already been started here on levelling and workloading of their tasks in the administrative force," said Mr. Carney.
