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News24 reports that the University of Cape Town (UCT) vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, says the institution will do everything it can to avert a strike by academic staff after wage negotiations deadlocked.
Meanwhile, the Academics' Union (AU), which represents the majority of academic staff at the university, polled its members about their willingness to embark on industrial action – and 87% supported a three-day strike. Phakeng said in a campus communique on Saturday that the university's executive had been working tirelessly and had engaged with the AU over wage negotiations. "This has been taking place against the backdrop of very challenging and unusual circumstances, including a very difficult current economic climate. In regular engagements with all unions, the executive has always remained open and transparent on the university's financial outlook and its implications for the many areas of our operations," she stated. Phakeng said that the executive remained committed to resolving any bargaining agreement issues with the AU relating to wage demands. The AU has been locked in wage negotiations with the institution after they were offered a 3% salary increase in November. Union members rejected the offer, and the institution assured them a revised offer would be forthcoming, but, according to the AU, it has not materialised.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marvin Charles at News24
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