THE strike by academic staff at the University of Technology (UTech) has been referred to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal.

The Ministry of Labour, in a statement last night, said conciliatory talks involving University of Technology Academic Staff Association (UTASU), UTech and the Ministry of Finance and Planning, were being held at the ministry and another meeting was scheduled for tomorrow.

“However, the workers have taken industrial action despite the agreement between the parties to meet again. The ministry has subsequently referred the matter to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal for determination,” said the labour minsitry.

At the same time, an emergency meeting of the Council of the University of Technology is set for 8:30 this morning to discuss the outstanding claims due to the academic staff for retroactive payment for the period 2002-2006.

A meeting with UTASU and the university’s senior administrators was held yesterday at 3:00 pm at which time the parties agreed that a number of proposals for settlement would be discussed at the council meeting, UTASU said last night.

In the meantime, the 350 academic staff at the Papine-based university yesterday vowed to continue their strike until the finance ministry pays over $143 million said owed to them in retroactive money.

“We would like to go back to work tomorrow (today), but we are waiting on a meeting between our administration and the ministry,” Martin Henry, communication officer for UTASU said at a press conference on the university’s campus yesterday.

“The lecturers are dealing with their administrators, whose responsibility it is to lobby with the minister of finance, so our quarrel is really with the administrators,” Henry said.

Martin, in the meantime, apologised to students for the disruption in their education. “We had a meeting with our students Monday night and they understand the position we have taken,” he said.

However, a number of students said yesterday that they did not support the strike.

“It is unfair to us as students. I don’t believe we should suffer. I don’t believe that after spending so much money we should be deprived of our education,” one student said. “But I also believe it is unfair to the lecturers; they have their families to feed. It has been a long time so I believe it is time the administration do something about it. I don’t believe the school administration care about the students or they would meet the lecturers’ needs so it wouldn’t affect us,” added the student.