Unions representing the administrative staff of The University of the West Indies on Thursday (April 25), signed off on a 15 per cent interim adjustment to staff members’ salaries pending the final review of the Government’s compensation package.

Professor Paul Brown, president of the West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT), one of the unions representing the university staff, said while this was not what lecturers requested, he said the 15 per cent.

The university’s lecturers have been calling for a 25 per cent increase in their salaries pending the final review of the compensation package.

“WIGUT Jamaica has joined with the other two unions representing staff at the Mona Campus and affiliate business units on a 15 per cent interim adjustment to salaries and allowances and this is a precursor to the compensation review. It is not what we had requested initially when we had met, we wanted 25 per cent but as how negotiations go, you go in and you don’t get what you want. We get something that is reasonable and acceptable and we signed off on that. We keep our eyes on the prize because the prize is really the compensation review. That is closer to where we should be as far as the market is concerned and I think this interim adjustment will ease some of the pressure that is there as far as our members are feeling with the high cost of goods and services,” Brown shared with Our Today.

He further shared that the 15 per cent interim increase will be implemented in May.

“The specific thing now in terms of the implementation of the 15 per cent which is now set for May and then there is later this year before the 31st the back pay of the retroactive which will go back to the start of the triennium which for us at WIGUT would be August 1, 2023,” Brown added.

Vice president of the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU), Clifton Grant, one of the unions that signed off on Thursday’s wage agreement said he is looking forward to the implementation of the increase.

“After a long haul, because this is the third interim adjustment, it is interim because the university was excluded from the Central Government compensation review. It has now agreed that the university’s compensation will and it supposed to be completed by now and the end of the year. So this interim adjustment is to keep the employees going and we signed today and we are looking forward to the implementation,” Grant said.

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke in his remarks described negotiations between the Finance Ministry and the unions as harmonious and also gave his commitment to the ongoing review of the compensation review.