Professor Paul Brown, president of the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT), Jamaica, says no class was impacted by yesterday’s protest by lecturers and administrative staff of The University of the West Indies, Mona, in Kingston.

‘Solidarity for more salary’ was the chant of the cohort of lecturers and staff members who gathered at the campus gate on Monday morning decked out in bright-red attires.

The lecturers have been calling for an interim increase in their salaries of 25 per cent pending the final review of the Government’s compensation package.

“There was zero impact on classes because it was not a protest because we were unhappy with the process. The process is ongoing, there is a tripartite committee that was established by the Ministry of Finance after our meeting on the 4th of January and this is in train to deliver a recommendation that will be taken on board by the end of this month [January 31] and we anticipate that the work will continue. So we are not unhappy with at all in fact we are very happy. It is a show of solidarity for that part of the process,” Brown said.

The group has also been calling on the Government to address current disparities in the compensation package for lecturers and administrative staff to match that of public sector workers and also the institution’s Caribbean counterparts.

“We don’t have a quarrel, things are proceeding and they are proceeding quite well as far as we can tell. But we wanted to keep our members engaged because they were upset leading into the Christmas season. We got this comfort in terms of this pathway to getting an interim payment so we are looking forward to that because as you can imagine there are several challenges that remain as far as the disparity between what is being paid at UWI vice versa similar persons within the public sector.

The officers, nurses, and teachers in the various areas of administration are now getting more than persons at UWI, who would have taught them in terms of their Bachelors and Masters studies, so it is with a view to ensure those things are always on the front burner,” Brown added.

WIGUT’s president says a staff members continue to advocate for better wages, there are certain aspects of the educational process that cannot be compromised.

“What we are saying that is we cannot continue in vain because it is not healthy. Staff in many areas are suffering because of it because of all the other increases that would have gone on and they have to be holding strain as far as being able to meet their daily, weekly expenses. But at the same time there are some aspects of the educational process that we do not want to be compromised so UWI is in the top 1.5 per cent of universities we cannot afford to slip and go back into the clear into oblivion it is a good place to be in terms of international recognition. I think once those things are achieved we will have all of the tools ready to go further as we maintain a high standard of teaching and learning at UWI,” he said.