Ongoing sit-ins paralyze work at Sana’a University [Archives:2008/1147/Local News]

By: Almigdad Mojalli
SANA'A, April 14 ) Hundreds of Sana'a University employees have staged sit-ins since April 8, thereby causing 80 percent of working hours to remain idle. The protestors are calling on the Yemeni government to implement the Wages and Salaries Strategy and raise their wages, which they maintain are less than other government employees.

The protestors also call for amending the University Executives Bylaw and applying articles 3, 14, 17 and 59, which stipulate forming a committee to handle the employees' salaries. “However, that committee only handled teachers' salaries and neglected ours,” noted Ahmed Al-Kawli, secretary-general of the Council to Coordinate Government University Syndicates. According to him, a university administration employee receives between YR 25,000 and YR 30,000 ($125-$150) per month, while a professor makes 10 times that, between YR 250,000 and YR 300,000 ($1,250-$1,500).

Additionally, Al-Kawli noted that the Yemeni government now is preparing a project law focused on raising university professors and neglecting administration employees. “We ask the government to give administrators all of the rights that academics enjoy. There's a wide gap in wages between professors and administrative employees,” he said.

According to Mohammed Modhesh, head of the Council to Coordinate Government University Syndicates, the protestors have attempted to meet with Prime Minister Ali Mujawar to explain their problem, but in vain.

He vows, “We'll continue our protest until we meet with the prime minister. If our demands aren't met, we'll stage another sit-in in front of the Presidential Office.”

Protestors maintain that they receive no allowances for health care or living accommodations, as opposed to professors who do receive such allowances.

As Al-Kawli points out, “Both professors and administrative employees work at the university, but we find that there's a big gap between us and them. For example, they've staged strikes and received what they asked for, while we've held numerous strikes and sit-ins, but to no avail. We don't ask for equality with the professors, but rather to obtain our own rights.”

Additionally, the employees demand the 20 percent increase in their essential salaries that the government declared and endorsed for all state employees in 1999. “We haven't received this increase since 1999, although we have a directive from the prime minister to the Finance Ministry and two judicial decisions regarding this 20 percent, but they're still procrastinating about it,” Al-Kawli said.

Contract employees

Approximately 300 employees working on a contractual basis also have participated in the sit-in, demanding the Civil Service Ministry hire them officially and increase their salaries.

“Some contract workers receive between YR 6,000 and YR 8,000 ($30-$40) a month, which isn't even enough for transportation,” says protester Hamed Al-Faqih.

“The duties of contract employees are more than those of fixed employees. For example, the working hours for contract employees are from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., while fixed employees only work from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” he added.

By law, contract employees must be contracted for no more than six months and then appointed as state employees. “However, many employees have been working on contract for as much as 13 years and haven't been registered by the Civil Service Ministry,” protester Hadeyah Mohsen pointed out.
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