by Jay Caboz | Jul 20, 2012 | News
by Jay Caboz
Published in the vuvuzela, 20 July 2012
This week’s protest march by Wits academic and support staff was the result of months of frustration following failed wage negotiations according to union representatives.
Academics and support staff have called for an end to what they say has become a deadlock in annual negotiations. The university has rejected their demands on pay, governance and conditions of service.
Vuvuzela has reported on increased hostility in the negotiations between the Academic Staff Association (ASAWU) and vice chancellor Loyiso Nongxa.
The academics are demanding a 9% salary increase for support staff, the establishment of a childcare facility for Wits employees and an end to overselling parking permits in non-designated parking areas, among other things.
In a statement released on July 10, Nongxa said he recognised the unions’ right to protest, as long as it did not interfere with the rights of students and other members of the Wits community to access services on campus.
Last month roughly 150 academics and staff picketed outside the entrance of the basement parking in Senate House. Some staff members told Vuvuzela they earn as little as R20 000 a year, despite working at Wits for more than 20 years.
During the negotiations in June, the university said it would cost around R60-million to implement the increase demanded.
The unions are expected to march again on August 2.
The protest action is supported by the Members of the Administration, the Library and Technical Staff Association, the Academic Staff Association of Wits University and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union.
Follow more of the strike action on our online segment www.witsvuvuzela.com
The list of demands
– a 9% salary increase for support staff, to be paid at a higher scale at the 75th percentile of the tertiary education sector benchmark
– decent salaries to be given before performance regulations were initiated;
– a resolution of the dispute on shift allowances
– an agreement on sliding scales to advance equity
– the establishment of a childcare facility for Wits employees
– an end to overselling of parking permits in non-designated parking areas;
– an increase in individual research incentives
jay@witsvuvuzela.com
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by Akinoluwa Oyedele | Jul 20, 2012 | News
For the first time in the university’s history Wits academic and support staff unions have collectively embarked on industrial action against Wits management over salaries and a range of other grievances.
Union members marched through Braamfontein in colourful academic robes and with yellow cards giving a “final warning” to Wits management to bring a “meaningful” resolution to their demands.
“Seriously? That never happened in MY day! Times certainly are a-changin’!” was an alumna’s response to a tweet that it is not students who are protesting.
Wits management has seldom capitulated to the demands of protesters in the last few years, cementing the impression that it is unyielding.
As testament, the SRC and other student organisations celebrated a simple address by the Vice Chancellor during their hunger strike as “a victory” while the 17 Royal Mnandi dismissed chefs remained at home.
The unions have strongly suggested that Wits’ budget surplus, in excess of R100 million last year, should be dispensed in their fridges and savings accounts instead of the university’s capital projects and savings.
Wits however needs to guarantee its future as an institution and has argued that budget holders, including some union members, do not spend all the money they are allocated annually.
While Wits Vuvuzela acknowledges that the budget-deficit situation is more complex, it equally acknowledges that management has defaulted on its 10-year-old promise to pay academics at the 75th percentile, while investing heavily in its ambition to achieve top 100 status within the next 10 years.
The first protest was held on a freezing Friday afternoon last month, when around 150 staff members lined the entrance of the Senate House basement parking, heckling Council members as they drove in for a scheduled meeting.
Council chair Sakumzi Macozoma arrived in a R1.4-million Audi R8. He has other lucrative business interests but the contrast of his wealth with the demands of union members was notable.
Wits Vuvuzela believes that management should take decisive steps to show Wits staff their investment in this institution can earn them a mild semblance of Macozoma’s wealth. More importantly, they should not have to protest in the cold or threaten to strike to get their demands, even though these give us great stories.
Published in Vuvuzela, 16th edition, 20th July 2012.
Update: 30th July 2012
The retraction below was published in Vuvuzela, 17th edition, 27th July 2012:
Owing to confusion arising from last week’s editorial, Wits Vuvuzela would like to clarify that Wits Council chair Mr Saki Macozoma does not receive a salary from Wits University.
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by Akinoluwa Oyedele | Jul 1, 2012 | Featured 1, News
Wits academic and support staff unions have planned a rally through Braamfontein on July 19 and a one-day strike next month over long-standing grievances with Wits management.
The three unions jointly declared a dispute after annual wage negotiations faltered last month. Management announced a 7.25% increase for academic staff (Grades 5-9). But the Administration, Library and Technical Staff Association (ALTSA) and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) have demanded a 9%increase.
They received a certificate of dispute from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which provides legal protection for protest and strike action.
The two unions, along with the Academic Staff Association of Wits University (ASAWU), also made non-wage related demands in a memorandum to management, including a child care facility for Wits employees.
The unions began their protest action with a picket on Jorissen Street outside Senate House in June, coinciding with a scheduled meeting of the Wits Council. About 150 staff members lined the entrance of the basement parking in freezing weather, calling for support as Council officials and members of the public arrived.
Catherine Dryden, a librarian, told Vuvuzela that she has worked at Wits for over 20 years and earns less than R20,000.
“With my experience and my qualifications, I think it’s an absolute disgrace, and I think if I were a member of Council, I would hang my head in shame”, she said.
Deputy vice chancellor of finance and operations, Prof Patrick FitzGerald, said the university provides extensive information about its financial sustainability during negotiations. Last year, ASAWU’s proposed salary increase would have cost the university around R60m to implement.
“Enough is enough”.
According to the unions, this is the third year they have been in dispute with management. Advocate Liz Picarra, an executive committee member of ASAWU, said “enough is enough”.
“We care about this university, we are this university, and unless they start engaging with us, we are actually doing our students and the entire university community a disservice”, she said.
Nomasonto Baloyi, a data administrator at the Wits Arts Museum, said she has not moved to a job that could pay better because of the experience and benefits Wits offers.
ASAWU president David Dickinson asked Sakumzi Macozoma, Wits Council chair, for his views on the picket as he drove in. He responded, “I hope you’ve told them that we’re speaking to you, have you?”
Wits Council chair, Sakumzi Macozoma (left) in conversation with ASAWU president David Dickinson (right).
Wits Communications manager, Shirona Patel, said management may not respond directly to the memorandum, but will continue with talks until next week.
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by Akinoluwa Oyedele | Jun 8, 2012 | Featured 1, News
http://storify.com/akinoyedele/south-africa-mourns-phillip-tobias
by Anina Mumm | May 14, 2012 | Featured 1
Published in Vuvuzela print edition, 11 May 2012
Graphics by Anina Minnaar & Design by Lisa Golden
by Jay Caboz | May 11, 2012 | Featured 1, News
The 13th edition of the Vuvuzela has a new design!
The image is a photographic composite of an image from the Wits Archives of political activity on campus, right, and life at Wits now, left. In this edition, we took a look back at how the university has evolved to its present state, and what it is doing to become one of the top 100 universities in the world.
Image by Jay Caboz
by tebogo | Aug 4, 2011 | News
The last weekend of the petrol strike left Witsies with a sigh of relief, with unions having accepted an 8.5% wage increase.
Although most Witsies weren’t affected by the strike as they were on vacation, they said they are relieved because it ended.
3rd year BSc (property studies) Bruce De Gauveia, said the strike didn’t affect him as he filled up his tank a day before the strike. But felt that the strike was necessary and the employers should have been given the percentage they demanded.
While Carovone Cleaning Services administrator, Charmaine Dorley, said although she wasn’t affected by the strike as she commutes to work by bus, she feels that strikes are not worth it, “ they strike demanding a certain percentage but don’t get it”.
Raeesah Shailan, 4th year BSc (quantity survey) student, “the strike end is a relief, was on holiday luckily, and filled up my car”.
36 year old Sonke gardener, Livhuwani Ravhura, said he didn’t feel the strike as he uses a train to work but is glad it ended.
Tens of thousands of Workers represented by National Petroleum Employers’ Association, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union, the General Industries Workers Union of SA, the SA Chemical Workers Union and Solidarity began walking off the job on July 11, delaying deliveries and sparking panic buying at service stations in the economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg.
Employers made unions an offer of 10% wage increase for workers at the lowest level. However the strike ended with unions accepting 8.5 % increase.
by Staff Reporter | May 19, 2011 | News
Muslim students from Gauteng are set to march in protest to the French embassy in Pretoria this morning to submit a petition against a law enacted to ban Muslim females wearing the niqab in public.
The protest action comes at the heels of reports that countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands are now considering following the French government law enacted just over a month ago.
The Wits Muslim Students Association (MSA) began rallying the support of fellow students on Tuesday to protest against what they call a violation not only of the freedom to express their religious affiliation but also an infringement of women’s rights.
Chairman of Wits MSA, Abubakr Osma, says: “No one is oppressed by wearing it [the niqab] and no one is forced to wear it. We need to break the stereotype so that if a Muslim lady wants to wear it she should be allowed to do so.”
Witsies from various religious affiliations wrote comments reflecting their stance on the ban on a banner that will be taken to the protest march.
“We know the ban has already been introduced into French law and we can’t do anything about that but we don’t want it to spread to other European countries and we stand here in solidarity to show that it is a human rights violation and to discourage the countries considering implementing it,” says Fatima Mukkamad, 3rd year BA politics major.
The French government cites security reasons as part of their reasons for banning the niqab, a reason members of the MSA say is quite unfounded.
“I know that every woman who wears the veil feels the same as me in that if a security person has to ask us to remove our veil for security purposes we will never say ‘No!’. We would remove our veil and show our face,” Mukkamad says.
Students taking part in the march are from Wits, the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria, forming an umbrella body – the Muslim Students Association Gauteng.
