UTT in talks with OWTU

The industrial impasse between the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union has to be resolved in the shortest possible time, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said after a meeting between the parties at the ministry in Port of Spain yesterday.

Garcia said the ministry was acting as a facilitator and had agreed to continue in that role until a resolution was agreed to by both parties. “The ministry’s team really had one mandate and that was to try to facilitate an easy resolution and a quick resolution to this problem,” Garcia said. “The union put forward proposals, and the proposals centred on cutting with respect to senior management staff.

“The university countered by saying that there is overstaffing at all levels of the organisation of UTT – senior management, middle management and at the level of the workers – and what we have decided therefore is to facilitate a meeting between the union and the management so that they can come to some agreement.

“This matter has to be settled very shortly, resolved very shortly, because we cannot have this matter prolonged for much longer.” In a January 29 letter to staff, UTT president Prof Sarim Al-Zubaidy said the university was engaged in continued negotiations with the union with all sides looking at what is “best for our students, staff and ultimately, the university.

“Despite all our challenges, I can assure you that we can look to the future with confidence. I would like to make it unambiguously clear that the University of Trinidad and Tobago is, and will continue to be, an essential part of the tertiary education footprint of TT and the Caribbean,” he saidd.

He said two of the university’s main focuses were student retention and student recruitment. He also said UTT would launch its first personal tutoring programme on February 1 as the university recognised that students needed guidance and assistance during their academic career.