Makerere University Non-Teaching staff threaten to strike

The support staff have called for a general assembly tomorrow Friday 31st  July 2015 at the University Main Building to discuss a way forward.

The officials say if no positive results are seen, they will go as planned to lay down their tools starting from 3rd August 2015.

According to sources privy to Campus Times, the government of Uganda and Makerere university last increased the incentives of the non-teaching staff in 1986.

According to a source that preferred anonymity, joined this university as a non teaching staff in 1997 and during all these years, he claims he has never seen any increment on his salary.

It should be noted that a total of Shs39 billion is required to meet salary demands for administrative and support staff from public universities per annum.

President Museveni ordered last year (2014) that salaries for lecturers be raised to enable, a professor, the highest ranking officer, walk home with at least Shs 15 million a month.

Earlier this month of July, Makerere University vice chancellor Prof. John Ssentamu Ddumba said the institution doesn’t have money to clear its staff’s outstanding allowances amounting to Shs9 billion for the last three months; and thus couldn’t commit to increasing incentives for non teaching staff.

BACK GROUND

In 2013, Makerere university council, the highest decision making organ, adopted a resolution to increase staff salaries by 70 per cent using internal generated funds, breaking a standoff that had paralyzed the institution’s operations for two weeks.

Earlier in April, 2015, Non-teaching staff in all the public universities across the country gave the government until the end of this financial year to increase their salaries, or they lay down their tools.

Their demands followed the government’s decision to increase pay for only teaching staff in all the public universities.

The non-teaching staff claim that in the recent planning indicative figures to all the universities, the finance ministry only made salary increment to the teaching staff, leaving out the administrative and support staff out of the proposed increment.

This comes only two weeks to the opening of the new semester. The semester opens on 15th August with Freshers Orientation and the continuing students reporting on 23rd August 2015.