Makerere's non-teaching staff suspend strike

Aug 21, 2015

Non-academic staff at Makerere University have suspended their three-week industrial action in protest of government’s failure to pay them enhanced salaries this year- paving way for students to report for the new semester.

By Clare Muhindo and Innocent Anguyo

Non-academic staff at Makerere University have suspended their three-week industrial action in protest of government’s failure to pay them enhanced salaries this year- paving way for students to report for the new semester.

Makerere’s non-teaching staff took the decision on Friday evening, at a meeting held at the university’s school of languages.

According to the chairperson of the Makerere University Administrative Staff Association (MASA), the strike will be in abeyance for a month, a period that will be used for negotiating with government.

This decision enables Makerere, which is Uganda’s most populous university to open for the new semester as recently scheduled on Saturday August 22.

Makerere admitted 21,000 students. The University which is highest ranked in East and Central Africa by several firms has a student population of more than 40,000, including international students.

However, it waits to be seen if the non-teaching staff in the other public universities including- Kyambogo, Mbarara, Busitema, Gulu and Muni will equally suspend their industrial action.

Before the decision taken by Makerere, the executive of the non-teaching public universities’ staff had earlier softened their demands to government over salary enhancement.

Jackson Betihamah, the chairperson of the Public Universities Non-teaching Staff Executive Forum (PUNTSEF) had said they would take the government’s offer if it could be “improved”.

A week ago, government agreed to raise the salaries of the 4,000 non-teaching staff in public universities to match that of the 2,713 academics, whose pay rise took effect this financial year.

The monthly salary of a professor, the highest paid academic rose from sh4m to sh6m.

Much as the salary rise worth about sh31b for the non-academic staff would take immediate effect, it would accumulate as arrears during the current financial year—payable in two equal installments between 2016 and 2018.

Having earlier rejected the government proposition,on Thursday, Betihamah during a press briefing at National Theater in Kampala said the improvement to the offer they sought was the payment of the arrears at once, in the 2016/17 financial year.

“We also want a commitment from government signed by both the Prime Minister and PUNTSEF. In the past, some groups such as teachers were given empty promises that were not fulfilled- we don’t want to tow that line,” said Betihamah.

During a meeting held last week between PUNTSEF and Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, the latter asked the former to respond to the government offer by Monday August17.

Betihamah said, although PUNTSEF met the premier’s deadline, they were yet to receive government’s response to their stand on the offer.

Isaac Magoola, the general secretary of the University Professional and Academic Staff Union (UPASU) lambasted government for enhancing salaries of university staff based on occupational discipline (teaching and non-teaching).

“The only justifiable distinction between university staff should be on account of qualification, experience and immediate social function or the contribution a specific category makes,” said Magoola.

According to Jenninah Ankunda of UPASU, over 70% of administrative staff in public universities have masters degree, the qualification held by more than half of academics.

Magoola also queried government’s logic of paying science academics higher than their arts colleagues.

“We do not agree that if a discipline does not produce commodifiable knowledge and research it is useless. For instance, the favoured science programmes are taught in English, an Art,” said Magoola.

UPASU called for the establishment of an independent institutional framework for determining salaries of all public officers- to avoid unnecessary industrial actions in the future.

The industrial action had caused paralysis in the institutions with some newly admitted students failing to receive their admission letters since offices were locked.