The joint staff has sent strong demands to the management, including demanding that restructuring be rescinded and that every coin from the Shs12.6bn be paid to them.
MAKERERE | The Joint Staff Association of Makerere University has announced an immediate withdrawal of their labour in response to an ongoing salary harmonisation dispute.
The decision follows a tense Monday meeting by members of the academic, support staff and union of education institutions at the unversity.
The joint staff leaders and their respective general secretaries communicated their decision in writing to the University Council chairperson, Dr Lorna Magara.
While both Dr Magara and University Secretary Yusuf Kiranda last week insisted the harmonisation process was complete and that all arrears was to be paid immediately, the frustrated staff insist the management is playing to the gallery.
In the letter, the staff told management that, from way back in July 2023, they demanded the university implement the harmonised salary structure to stop the cheating and underpaying of some staff members that have suffered for many years.
The Ministry of Public Service provided Shs12.6bn for harmonisation of salaries for Makerere University staff in April. Other public universities were also catered for.
But while the other institutions implemented their hormonisation, Makerere has yet to complete its process.
“Although staff in other public universities have since received their harmonized salaries, staff at Makerere University have not received any letters indicating their harmonised salaries,” the staff said.
“This state of affairs has generated serious anxiety among members of the Joint Staff Associations.”
Mr Kiranda last week told the Nile Post that several staff had already been given letters of notice.
This news website could not readily verify the statement but Dr Magara said the delay was largely due to the complex nature of the Ivory Tower as it employs more than 1,000 staff.
But the joint staff say many of their members have not been harmonised according to the agreed position, “due to the introduction of many new conditions” which they say were not part of the negotiations for salary harmonization.
“These conditions were construed as an effort to frustrate staff, a matter associate with the intention to defraud staff,” they said.
“Instead of harmonizing staff salaries, Makerere University has demoted many staff. A few staff that have been harmonized, are being given letters with scales but without the figures which we equally construe as a ploy to defraud staff.”
The joint staff, which comprises the Makerere University Academic Staff Association, Makerere University Administrative Staff Association, and National Union of Education Institutions (Makerere branch), has sent strong demands to the management.
Among the conditition, the staff said all monies for salary harmonisation totalling Shs 12,636,589,200 be paid to the beneficiaries as computed by management, approved by the University Council and approved by the government in the FY2024/2025 Budget with arrears.
“All decisions of the Appointments Board demoting staff to lower ranks should be rescinded immediately,” they said.
They said all the salary harmonisation letters already issued should be rescinded, corrected to include the salary amounts at all given salary scales.
“Staff currently occupying higher or senior positions should not be disadvantaged by being lowered in ranks as a result of harmonization.”
They also demanded that the staff members in upgraded positions should be paid the upgraded salary scales without the higher salary being contingent on meeting the new qualification requirements, that were not required during their respective recruitments and or promotions for some members.
They said new qualifications as guided by the Ministry of Public Service should not apply to staff in post because such cannot apply retrospectively.
The long-standing salary dispute has kept the staff on the edge since it comes with the cost of jobs for some and demotion for others in a restructuring-like process.
Dr Magara said she had yet to receive the latest letter announcing industrial action but the Nile Post has been told by sources at Makerere that the management is determined to resolve the matter by the morrow to end the deadlock.