Support staff of the University of Guyana (UG) are set to receive a retroactive salary increase, but lecturers will have to wait for their ‘back-pay’ as the unions continue to reject efforts by the administration to include performance as a condition.

University of Guyana (UG) Vice-Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith is not backing down from his insistence that wage hikes for academic staff be tied to their performance.

“This university has lots of performance issues,” Griffith noted on Friday, while saying it would be irresponsible of him to negotiate salaries and not speak of the performance of staff.

University of Guyana (UG) Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith said lecturers would first have to submit all outstanding grades as part of a new performance-driven criteria before they could receive salary increases for 2017, but President of the Workers Union (UGWU), Bruce Haynes said his union would have none of it.

University of Guyana (UG) executive staff members will have to await the appointment of a Council before they are paid salary increases, but academic and non-academic staff can receive their six to eight percent salary hike by October 9.

UG Registrar, Dr. Nigel Gravesande told Demerara Waves Online News that the executive staff members would not be paid until the Council is constituted. The Ministry of Education is yet to name a Council since the life of the last decision-making body ended in July.