PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC:
LECTURERS AT the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) have embarked on industrial action that could seriously affect the end of semester examinations.
The West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT) said that its members had agreed to work-to-rule to protest against the slow pace of settling new wage negotiations. WIGUT President Vishnudat Singh said that the action by the lecturers, which started on Thursday, would affect the Trinidad-based campus of the regional university and could have an impact on "the end of semester exams".
The lecturers contend that it has been 16 months since WIGUT submitted proposals for a revised compensation package for the period August 1, 2002 to July 31, 2005. Singh said that it was only on October 18 that the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education made recommendations to the Inter-Ministerial Committee.
Singh said he hopes when the committee meets on Monday, the matter would be dealt with and urged all stakeholders to understand the dire predicament in which lecturers find themselves.
