00:00The OWTU is turning up the pressure on UTT Chairman Professor Salvin Kujo
00:05following his reported comments that there is no money available to settle outstanding wage negotiations.
00:12The union's UTT branch says workers should not be made to bear the consequences
00:17of what it describes as years of financial mismanagement at the university.
00:22It claims some UTT workers have been earning salaries based on 2,007 rates,
00:28with some reportedly receiving about $4,000 a month.
00:32The statement from the union reads,
00:34The blatant mismanagement of the university's finances is not a burden for the workers to carry
00:39when the current executive chairman is enjoying a salary of over $100,000 per month,
00:46while some workers at the university have been paid $4,000 per month for the past 19 years.
00:53The union says the dispute over wages has been long-standing.
00:58According to the branch, management has refused to engage in bilateral negotiations since 2013.
01:04It says proposals for the periods 2014 to 2016 and 2014 to 2019 were rejected,
01:12describing some of those offers as 0% increases and one as 0,002% over six years.
01:20The union also points to the retrenchment of more than 200 workers in 2019,
01:26saying current employees were not responsible for the decisions that contributed to the university's financial difficulties.
01:33The statement reads,
01:34The branch is also taking issue with Kuju's participation in a recent emancipation event,
01:49where it says he sold copies of his books.
01:53The union argues that workers struggling to afford school books for their children should not be faced with that spectacle
01:59while being told there's no money for wage settlements.
02:03It's calling on the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training to intervene,
02:08saying,
02:09The workers at UTT deserve a better day with a better pay.
02:12If you cannot settle on negotiations,
02:14then take your books and go, Kuju, end quote.
02:18The OWTU says it wants the outstanding negotiations brought back to the table
02:23and settled through good-faith discussions.
02:27The university and Professor Kuju have not responded to the union's latest bulletin.
02:32I wish you to worry, Rupna Ryan, TV6 News.
