Chanco strike called off
A sit-in by Chancellor College (Chanco) lecturers has been called off following an end to the dispute over salary disparities between the University of Malawi (Unima) Council and the lecturers.
The lecturers were on strike to push the council to resolve salary disparities among academic staff in similar grades in its four constituent colleges of Chanco, The Malawi Polytechnic, Kamuzu College of Nursing and the College of Medicine (CoM), after it transpired that CoM lecturers were getting 40 percent more than their colleagues in the other colleges.
Chancellor College Academic Staff Union (Ccasu) Secretary General Emmanuel Ngwira who represented the academic unions and welfare association in the meeting they had on Tuesday with University Council and facilitated by government confirmed the development in an interview Wednesday.
On the terms agreed during the meeting regarding salary harmonisation among lecturers in four constituent colleges of Unima, Ngwira said they reached an agreement after the council acknowledged that there were indeed disparities that needed to be removed.
However, Ngwira could not go into details on when the lecturers expect to start getting the 40 percent.
“The issue was about salary disparities and the fact that the council has agreed that there were disparities and that they will be removed, resolves the matter,” he said.
In a statement released Tuesday Minister of Education, Science and Technology Emmanuel Fabiano said all constituent colleges of the Unima will resume normal functions soon.
He further said Chanco management will make a statement within the next two days on the opening of the college.
Polytechnic lecturers were set to join the strike on July 1 in a salary disparity impasse that led to the closure of Chanco for four months.
