EMCU EMPLOYEES PICKET OVER SALARY REVIEW

MBABANE – Eswatini Medical Christian University (EMCU) employees have engaged in a picket over salary reviews.

The picketing happened at the institution’s premises yesterday. It occurred hardly a week after University of Eswatini (UNESWA) employees engaged in their own picketing over deductions of monies from their salaries which were not then remitted to the intended financial services providers.

The UNESWA employees claimed that the university was deducting money from their salaries with an intention to service their personal loans and policies. However, they alleged that the money was never remitted to the relevant financial organisations.
The EMCU employees, who are members of the National Workers Union of Swaziland Higher Institutions, (NAWUSHI) highlighted that their gripe was that they had no standard salary structure ever since the tertiary institution started operating.

determine

A salary structure or pay scale is a system that employers use to determine an employee’s compensation. It takes into account things such as merit, length of employment and pay, compared to similar positions.

In an interview with NAWUSHI Acting General Secretary Lee Madinane, he disclosed that last year the university’s administration hired a consultant to formulate the salary structure which was expected to be implemented at the beginning of the financial year.
“But it has dragged for far too long despite engaging with management. However, as a union, we came to a point where we resolved not to fight with management but accept the structure as is and have one which would be reviewed so that our university could also reach the standards of other universities like UNESWA,” Madinane highlighted. 

articulated

He, however, disclosed that the university hired lecturers and paid them varying salaries between E20 000 to E30 000. He articulated that their grievance was not with the institution’s administration but with government.

The acting general secretary said the challenge they had was that they could not communicate effectively with government. “So the only way to communicate with government is to engage in a picket,” he said.

He expressed that the Ministry of Education and Training disregarded them as employees of higher institutions because the matter had been reported to the ministry in August last year but there was no response.
Meanwhile, EMCU Executive Director Sipho Vilakati confirmed that there had been no salary structure ever since the tertiary institution started its operations.

appropriate

“It’s true, up to now we do not have an approved salary structure. This is because it must be approved by the appropriate government structure since we are a parastatal,” Vilakati said.

He explained that the university drafted a document and negotiated with the union (NAWUSHI) and then it was submitted to the appropriate structures in government last year.

Vilakati added that the institution was still awaiting a response from the ministry.
On the other hand, Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry of Education and Training Bertram Stewart said he would find out from management today regarding the scope of the salary structure. The PS was queried if the university submitted a request for the ministry to approve employees’ salary structure. In the event that it did, Stewart was asked what the hold-up was in approving it. 

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