UWI principal: 'I can't make the CPO offer remit'

University of the West Indies, St Augustine principal Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine said there is nothing the organisation can do to get the Chief Personnel Officer to move faster in offering the long-awaited remit to members of the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT).

She spoke to the media after speaking with WIGUT members who protested in front of her office on Thursday.

“Short of kidnapping him (the CPO) and saying to him with a gun to his head, I don’t think there’s anything much more that UWI can do. We have submitted all the documentation, my registrar has been back and forth, they asked for extra and we gave them that and this, which is all part of the normal give-and-take I’m assuming. I can’t say what is happening behind those scenes but I can tell you for our part, if you can say what else you want me to do I will do it, unless it’s unlawful, in which case I won’t. I really can’t tell you what else can be done other than continuous moral suasion.”

WIGUT president Dr Indira Rampersad said the six-week deadline given by the CPO to Belle Antoine would elapse on Sunday, and with one working day left in the week, she was not hopeful that it would be received. She said further action was planned, as the members could not continue living on 2014 salaries.

Belle Antoine said the protesters had a right to a timely remit according to the spirit and letter of the laws governing industrial relations.

“I remain hopeful, I trust it’s that they’re deliberating seriously the requests and the comprehensive proposals we’ve made, so I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are looking at it seriously. As we have pointed out, UWI is generally the first, if not the first, to get a remit when we have negotiations, and it has been an extraordinary delay, which is concerning, so I continue to hope and do what I can to get the remit. Normally we don’t have to have industrial action over the remit, it’s usually the content of the remit.”

She said she appreciated that the union had assured her that examination papers were ready and would be released when the remit was received.

“As an academic it takes a lot of preparation to write an exam paper so I am pleased that they have prepared and reviewed, so there will be no further delay, the minute we get the remit they will be released. I did ask that you send the papers, those of you who haven’t, we know how that went but it was my duty to ask.”

Rampersad said while holding back exams was not the ultimate goal, the union was using it as a bargaining tool, as was being done in the UK by teachers there. She said it was worrying as exams are supposed to begin next week.

“Principal, you expressed a concern about the exams but the deputy principal said at the academic board that the contingency plans are in place, also your registrars are sending out communiques about examiners and pulling papers from past papers, which the students have total access to, so that’s untenable.

“We would advise you to keep your senior management members in place, in train, and let them follow regulations. The only people who can determine duration, time, etc, of the exam are the first examiners, and the first and second examiners made a decision yesterday that we are going to hold off until the end of the month, and regroup in May, if the remit is not received.”

Belle Antoine said the examination period ends on May 15, so if some exams had to be rescheduled there was room to manoeuvre in terms of timetabling.

“We have some leeway for papers that are not in. We have the majority of papers in and I asked for the rest and some more have come in. It’s not that they’re giving up their right to demand the remit, but that it’s one of the actions they can take. I would also ask students to pay attention in case one of your exams might be rescheduled during the exam period.

“I think the students are frustrated, it’s not just them that are frustrated, the staff are frustrated, management is frustrated because we feel powerless to help our staff and our students.”

Attempts to reach the CPO were unsuccessful up until press time.

The UWI Guild of Students, in a release on Thursday, said in a discussion with the union on April 4, light was shed on the unfortunate circumstances lecturers face and endure due to not getting their remit.

“Therefore, while we do not condone any actions that pose the potential to adversely affect our members, we continue to ask that the parties responsible for mitigating and navigating this human resource issue do so with urgency with all circumstances considered.”