UBASSU ponders post strike move
Larona Makhaiza | Monday November 21, 2022 06:00
In their latest move, the president of University of Botswana Staff Union (UBSU), Gadzani Mhotsha in alliance with UBASSU yesterday handed over a petition to the Minister of Education and Skills Development Dr Douglas Letsholathebe.
During the handing over of the petition, Mhotsha said in the new petition the unions are asking for 15% pay increase across the board effective from April, or 7.5% plus incorporation of allowances into the basic salary if 15% is too steep.
Mhotsha questioned the credibility of the examinations as he feels that the University did not follow the right path. ‘The university has assigned staff members that are ordinarily not supposed to administer exams and they have done this in replacement of the staff that are on strike and this is illegal in many ways as even the people that are issuing out exams for the students are cleaners and security officers so we hear,” he said.
After receiving the petition, the minister said he really does hear the cry of the workers of asking for increment hence why he took his time to come and see them. “I promise you all that together with my team, I will sit with the UB Council and deliberate on this issue together but the time you have given me to respond to you Friday noon is really a short time for me to deal with the matter, hence I am appealing to you guys to be patient as we deal with this issue as the ministry,” Letsholathebe said. The UB staff has for months been seeking for salary increment of five percent but to no avail. The president for UBASSU Professor Motsomi Marobela has previously indicated that they would take the matter into their own hands as their cries have not been heard out by the university management. More importantly, UBASSU had called for the Vice Chancellor (VC) David Norris to step down as they feel the VC has failed them. The UBASSU had also threatened to boycott a lot of university activities. “UBASSU will boycott the graduation and not celebrate as they have nothing to celebrate for rather they will be picketing it.
And we will also not be partaking in the examinations nor set them therefore there will be no exams,” Marobela said before the recent UB graduation. UBASSU’s graduation snub threats did not produce any results and the event was a success as there were no hiccups on the two day graduation. However, with the examinations threats, UBASSU showed its intent and did not take part in the examinations. Instead they have been holding a peaceful demonstration where they walk around the campus demanding salary increment.
Even though the union has been holding a five-day peaceful demonstration during the examinations period, exams have been going well thus far and students have not missed exam either. The peaceful demonstration has not yielded the results they had hoped for which were to disrupt the everyday running of the university and the examinations.
Additionally, most of the university staff has not put their tools down. Meanwhile, one of the staff members who is on the strike spoke to Mmegi on condition of anonymity and further indicated that they are in a dire situation.
“We have been asking for five percent increment for now and still now our demands have not been met, and it is such a pity that when we do this peaceful demonstration we are not united as UB staff to push for the increment as some of the staff are not here with us and they are even partaking in the examinations,” she said.