By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Junior staffers at the University of Sierra Leone Tuesday appealed for improved conditions of work, including certain allowances enjoyed by their seniors.
They made the call at a meeting with the top management of the University, held at the amphitheatre and attracting workers from the three constituent colleges of the university.
Steven Sewah Tarawallie, a junior staff worker who has served for 24 years at the Fourah Bay College, cited certain benefits the senior staff enjoys which they want to be considered for. He mentioned the ‘child allowance’ as one of the key benefits which he said he and his colleague workers were yearning for.
The child allowance is paid to the academic staff to enable them pay school fees for their children.
“We too have children like those academic staff and we are equally entitled to such allowances,” Tarawallie said.
In her statement, the Finance Director of the University, Waltina Mackay, acknowledged the situation of the junior staff workers and assured that the authorities were putting modalities in place to ensure that their welfare conditions were met. She promised payment of all backlog salaries of the junior staff workers by March latest.
“The university has ensured 66.2 percent average increase in salary, 100 percent increase in rent allowances and 50 percent increase in travel allowances for junior staff workers,” she disclosed.
She however informed the workers that if they accepted the salary arrangement, they must abide by the university`s rules and conditions.
Sorie Dumbuya, Registrar of the University of Sierra Leone, assured the workers that management was seriously pursuing the issue of welfare, noting that it was in this direction that they were working very hard to bring back the Joint Negotiating Committee, which he said would be there to negotiate with the university authorities over welfare issues.
He also spoke about the rights of the junior staff workers to belong to a union, saying that the constitution of Sierra Leone protected Freedom of Association.
“100 junior staff workers have collected forms from the university which they have taken to the Ministry of Labour for processing,” he revealed, cautioning however that belonging to a trade union was a matter of choice.
In his key note address, the Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Professor Ekundayo Thompson, reiterated the important role which every worker played in the university. He blamed the inflationary trend in the country for making it difficult t for the staff amidst the increasingly high cost of living in the country. He urged them to be duty conscious as the university would work very hard to address their welfare concerns.
“We are coming to open college…We must ensure personal and environmental hygiene, and still continue to obey the directives of the health workers,” he urged.
Professor Thompson disclosed that government was supporting the university so that it could pay salaries on the 25th of every month during this emergency period. He further stated that as the university was striving to improve the working conditions of the junior staff, they would appoint monitors to supervise them in their various places of work for effectiveness.
© Politico 25/02/15
