UP opens its doors
The University of Pretoria has opened its doors for students registration after two weeks of protests by workers.
|||Johannesburg - The University of Pretoria opened its doors for students registrations on Thursday after two weeks of protests by workers at the institution.
An agreement was reached between the university and workers on Wednesday, bringing and end to protests that had disrupted the registration process and shut down the institution.
Representatives of contract workers, students, organised labour and university management, who formed part of the institution’s commission to address outsourcing, were part of the agreement to do away with outsourcing of staff by the institution.
“The members of the commission agreed on issues including salaries and benefits, job security, resumption of work and the insourcing process,” the university said in a statement.
“The way forward and implementation process will be overseen by an insourcing task team consisting of representatives of all stakeholders.”
According to the agreement, workers’ salaries would be increased from R2 500 to R5 500 this year. They would receive a minimum wage of R10 000 by 2018, when outsourcing would have come to an end.
The workers, who were mostly cleaners, security guards and gardeners, demanded an end to outsourcing and a R10 000 monthly salary plus benefits.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday that a consensus was reached between his department, university vice chancellors and the National Financial Student Aid Scheme (NFSAS).
He said institutions would address the registrations on an individual basis and come up with a funding plan for indebted students.
The NFSAS will on Thursday outline its 2016 student funding plan and a new funding model for students referred to as the “missing middle.”
These were students who were above the NFSAS threshold, but could not afford higher education costs.
African News Agency