NewsWhore
04-18-2006, 02:10 PM
The government is being criticized for its handling of the teacher and employee strike at the state university, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, affecting about 150,000 students who are idle in Santo Domingo campuses and the interior.
Listin Diario political analyst Orlando Gil says that the government should have held to the autonomous status of the university and not gotten involved, leaving the university authorities to resolve the impasse regarding the wage increase demands. Instead, the Ministry of Higher Education stepped in and made an offer to increase wages 20% in the 2007 budget, plus other benefits. "The situation is interesting, because the promoters of the strike, who until now have had nothing to show, now have the possibility of a slim win or of converting the state university into a political resistance center. That is, they have just made a problem out of the UASD, when those days were thought to be long forgotten..."
After the government made the offer, spokesmen for the professors and employees announced that they are increasing their demands to ask for 20% now and 20% next year, or a 40% wage increase, taking into account an expected 10% inflation. The UASD employees and professors had been demanding a 30% increase.
The Que Se Dice page two column in Hoy speculates there are other motives behind the strike that occurs a month before the congressional and municipal election, which are not purely about employee benefits. The university's assembly meets today to issue a statement.
Today, Minister of Higher Education Ligia Amada Melo said she would no longer intervene in the conflict. "If the unions had good intentions, I believe they would have accepted the government's proposal, but see how they have twisted the situation with a counteroffer that is even more difficult to accept," she said as reported in the Listin Diario online. She said that by doing so they show they are not really looking to resolve the conflict. "Then I do not want to continue losing my time when I have many more things to do at this time," she said.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Listin Diario political analyst Orlando Gil says that the government should have held to the autonomous status of the university and not gotten involved, leaving the university authorities to resolve the impasse regarding the wage increase demands. Instead, the Ministry of Higher Education stepped in and made an offer to increase wages 20% in the 2007 budget, plus other benefits. "The situation is interesting, because the promoters of the strike, who until now have had nothing to show, now have the possibility of a slim win or of converting the state university into a political resistance center. That is, they have just made a problem out of the UASD, when those days were thought to be long forgotten..."
After the government made the offer, spokesmen for the professors and employees announced that they are increasing their demands to ask for 20% now and 20% next year, or a 40% wage increase, taking into account an expected 10% inflation. The UASD employees and professors had been demanding a 30% increase.
The Que Se Dice page two column in Hoy speculates there are other motives behind the strike that occurs a month before the congressional and municipal election, which are not purely about employee benefits. The university's assembly meets today to issue a statement.
Today, Minister of Higher Education Ligia Amada Melo said she would no longer intervene in the conflict. "If the unions had good intentions, I believe they would have accepted the government's proposal, but see how they have twisted the situation with a counteroffer that is even more difficult to accept," she said as reported in the Listin Diario online. She said that by doing so they show they are not really looking to resolve the conflict. "Then I do not want to continue losing my time when I have many more things to do at this time," she said.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)