On Thursday, 31 May 2018 Political Analysis South Africa’s Thando Maeko spoke to Jako Nel, the Spokesperson for the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU).
Members of NTEU are participating in a strike at the Walter Sisulu University over wage increase disagreements. Management at the university has offered an increase of 6.3%, while workers are demanding an increase of 8%. Nel alleges that financial mismanagement by the vice-chancellor, Prof Rob Midgely, is the reason behind the university being unable to pay the wage increase proposed by the workers. He also indicated that workers are still willing to negotiate with management but that management must come to the table.
“I would say that exorbitant spending, reckless and non-prudent spending by the Vice Chancellor’s office definitely contributed to what made wage negotiations difficult,” he said.
Listen to the audio below for more.