See through UTech, Taylor smokescreen
Published:Friday | March 28, 2014 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
The University of Technology Academic Staff Union (UTASU), the University of Technology Administrative Staff Association (UTASA) and the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) that represent technical and ancillary staff at UTech note errors in Orville Taylor's column 'UTech union bullies: Labour gone too far in trying to boot Morrison' published in The Sunday Gleaner, March 23, 2014. We are also concerned about the article's limited engagement with the core issues of the impasse.
First, the unions have never asked for 40 persons at the institution to be relieved of their jobs. The unions have asked for a new council to be appointed and for executive managers - specifically the president and his vice-presidents - to be held accountable for the grave issues of poor governance at the institution. Where persons hold contracts that are ultra vires, we have asked for those contracts to be addressed to bring them in line with the rules and regulations governing public institutions.
joint union action
Second, the current impasse at UTech involves all the staff unions and associations: administrative, technical and ancillary. The article is misleading, as it suggests an action solely by academic staff based on academic staff issues and interests. This joint action of the unions is the first in the history of the institution and should signal to our fellow Jamaicans the seriousness of the issues at the centre of the impasse.
Third, our concerns about issues of governance are not new. We are not in an "indecent haste" to have the Government act. Our concerns were raised with the minister of education from 2012. Our concerns were not then, and are not now, about personalities or differences in vision. We were, and are still, concerned about poor governance.
partial commentary
We observed that your contributor expressed misgivings about the UTech governing council. He did not outline those misgivings. A fair commentary would have given readers some insight into the writer's misgivings about the council. The council - its composition, structure and poor performance - has always been at the heart of the unions' issues.
The writer avoids details on the UTech council which is currently headed by former Prime Minister Edward Seaga who, as chancellor, nominated Errald Miller, husband of the current prime minister, as the chancellor's nominee on the council. The writer chose, instead, to lecture 'labour' on how to mind its manners and stay in its place. If the public cares enough about the operations of the council that governs the publicly funded UTech, it should ask for a thorough, open and transparent discussion about that body.
We fear that our nation might be developing a tacit acceptance of bad governance, especially where this implicates persons of repute. We will always oppose the clear double standard in institutional and even national responses to wrongdoing or offences by different categories of employees.
RORRON CLARKE, (Chief Delegate, UAWU)
CHRISTOPHER SPENCER, (President, UTASA)
OLUBUSOLA AKINLADEJO, (President, UTASU)