ACADEMIC and administrative staff at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) say they are expecting a reasonable response from the Government by Wednesday of this week regarding their compensation package.

The staff members, who staged a silent protest on Monday at the main campus in Papine, St Andrew, are demanding that their salaries be on par with Government tertiary institutions. A protest was also staged outside the university’s campus in Montego Bay, St James.

The staff members, who rejected the Government’s compensation package two weeks ago, took up placards to demonstrate their dissatisfaction – moving from UTech’s main campus, to the Heroes’ Circle location of the Finance and the Public Service Ministry, then to the Ministry of Education and Youth nearby.

President of the University of Technology, Jamaica Administrative Staff Association (UTASA) Janette Grayson, who spoke for both groups of staff, told the
Jamaica Observer that they are irked by the paltry package presented which is way below that of staff at Government tertiary institutions.

“We took action to protest the pitiful salary scales, or salary bands based on what the Government calls it, that were presented to the unions as our compensation package as well as the slow pace in which this matter is being handled,” she said.

This protest follows on similar ones staged in September last year by ancillary, technical and administrative staff and early this year by academic staff to highlight the same matter.

In the January 4 protest, academic staff withheld students’ grades due to the non-submission of salary package from the finance ministry. This was eventually presented on January 4.

Grayson said the latest protest was to get the attention of the Government after not receiving a response with a more suitable compensation package.

In the meantime, Grayson said the management of UTech has been doing its part in dealing with matters that the unions have brought to its attention, including grouses about parity issues for the administrative staff, which has been ongoing since 2017.

“The Ministry of Finance requested a parity proposal and they have worked with us, even over the holidays, to get the proposal into the hands of the ministry. So they have been doing their part and they have been sharing the necessary information that they have received. It’s just that we [unions] are not getting anywhere. So we have to step out of our blocks to get the Government’s attention,” she said.