Yesterday, 15 March 2018, the Durban University of Technology (DUT) management and the three labour unions (NEHAWU, TENUSA & NTEU) met at the CCMA offices to sign a settlement agreement, following a protracted staff strike over salary negotiations for 2018.

DUT management and the leadership of all three unions at the University, released a joint statement yesterday afternoon confirming the signing of the settlement agreement at the CCMA.

The signed agreement includes the following conditions:
· DUT staff basic salary will increase by 7% which will be implemented in March 2018.
· The R200 monthly housing allowance increase will be implemented in March 2018.
· Staff can take advantage of the salary advance. Employees who wish to apply for an advance must go to the HR office (Benefits section on the 3rd floor) to fill in an application form by no later than Monday, 19 March 2018.
· Back payments of the salary increase and the housing allowance, to 1 January 2018 till March 2018, will be implemented only in April 2018. This requires more work and time to reduce the potential for miscalculations.
· 13-day waiver of the no-work-no-pay principle

DUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor of People and Operations, Dr Isaac Machi said the University implemented salary advances in order to alleviate the financial constraints to employees who had been on strike and had their salaries docked.

“The salary advance lots would be R3000, R6000, R9000 up to the maximum of R12 000, only for the employees who had their salaries docked during the February salary pay run.The salary advance would be repayable over a period of eight months,” explained Dr Machi.

The academic programme and all operations of the university are back to optimal functionality since last week and details of the revised academic calendar will be communicated to students by individual faculties, including the catch up interventions to make up for the lost time.

Nduduzo Ndlovu