Lecturers at the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) have joined their colleagues at Fourah Bay College and Njala University on an industrial strike action.
President of the Academic Staff Association of MMCET, Gibril Thullah told Politico that they agreed yesterday, Wednesday 13 March to commence their sit-down strike action because of “several grievances”.
He said they had gone for almost three months without salary, adding that they were faced with a situation in which their salaries would decrease because the National Revenue Authority had decided to tax their allowances. He said also that lecturers were dissatisfied with some of the provisions contained in the new harmonized conditions of service, emphasizing that they would continue the strike until their concerns are addressed.
In a similar vein, members of the Academic Staff Association of Fourah Bay College (ASA-FBC) have resolved to continue their industrial strike action which started two weeks ago. In a meeting held at FBC on Wednesday, the lecturers voted almost unanimously to continue with their stay-at-home action.
Vice President of ASA-FBC, Ambrose Rogers told Politico that they decided to continue with their industrial action because their demands had not been addressed. He said the university authorities paid only a 3-month salary backlog with a percentage that was “unsatisfactory”. He added that the university’s finance director had told them that the new salary scale was not guaranteed for March.
Rogers said that they were expecting the university authorities to have paid at least “60% of the total sum agreed on, last academic year” pointing out that as things stood there was no guarantee the university would be able to fulfill its financial commitment to the striking workers by next academic year.
The ASA-FBC Vice President said that in addition to their demand for the implementation of the agreement on salary reached last year, “the teaching and classroom conditions were unacceptable in this twenty-first century”, pointing out that almost all classrooms were filthy and unhygienic. He noted, however, that they were open to negotiations but that they would only return to the classroom after an “acceptable” implementation of the agreement had been reached.
The Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Prof. Jonas Redwood Sawyerr has requested to meet with lecturers of Fourah Bay College on today, Thursday 14 March to further discuss their grievances.
Meanwhile, the President of the Academic Staff Association of Njala University, Thurad Senessie said they would also meet today to examine the request made by President Ernest Bai Koroma aimed at resolving their strike. He would not comment further. Public Relations Officer of ASA Njala University told Politico that President Ernest Bai Koroma had authorised an Le 8 billion supplementary subvention for Njala University to address six of their eight points raised in their grievances.
