Protest against poor working conditions

Another lecturers’ strike grounds UB again
By Maquens Balemba in Buea

VC Nalova Lyonga, overwhelmed
by events at UB?

Lecturers of the University of Buea have been on a strike since Wednesday, 21 May 2014. The University dons under the banner of the U.B branch of SYNES (The National Trade Union of University Lecturers) have made known their intention to continue with the strike for at least one more week.
    On Wednesday morning, students were surprised when they flocked into the amphitheaters but could not spot a single lecturer on campus. It was at that moment that the news of yet another lecturers’ strike got to them.
    According to information that filtered into our newsroom, several reasons have led to the strike action. These include poor working conditions, inadequate stationery and insufficient salaries. But the immediate reason why the lecturers had to boycott the classroom is the prohibition of taxis from entering the campus.

    “For about a year now colleagues have had to trek under the searing heat of the sun just to get to lecture halls. And by the time we get there, we are drenched in a pool of sweat. Sometimes, we even have to walk in the rain then stand in front of students soaked to the bone, all this because we are not paid well enough to buy our own cars,” read the strike notice posted on the SYNES web forum.
    Officials of the Buea branch of SYNES told The Median that all attempts at dialogue with the administration of UB have been futile. “Before going on strike, we long notified the administration but nothing was done.”
    Meanwhile, the administration maintains that the restriction of taxis on campus is meant to maintain order and peace. But the striking lecturers say it is not true. They described the excuse from the administration as “diversion and falsehood”. The lecturers say they can no longer bear the “wicked and unjust” punishment that the Vice Chancellor has continued to mete out on her colleagues. When we visited the university campus at the weekend, we saw a notice on the door of one of the lecturers which read: “My take home pay can barely take me home”.
    UB, fondly called ‘The place to be’, has been the centre of attraction for the wrong reasons of late. Frequent strikes by both students and lecturers have interrupted the smooth running of Cameroon’s lone Anglo-Saxon University. The last time lecturers went on strike was in June 2013, when they protested what they described as the arbitrary and disgraceful detention of ten of their colleagues who were suspected of inciting the students’ riot that year.
    This time around the lecturers have vowed to continue their industrial action until the authorities see the urgent need to look into their worries. SYNES officials have called on members to show proof of total commitment, discipline, unity and cohesion if they must get the desired response from the authorities.
    “The attitude we adopt in little things will determine how successful we will be in all our struggles; struggle for better pay, etc.” said the acting president of SYNES UB, James A. Abangma, PhD, who added: “We need to be treated respectfully by our colleagues no matter their ranks”.