Academic staff of the University of Guyana (UG) should be paid a comparable salary to that of their counterparts at the University of the West Indies (UWI). At least this is the conclusion of an online survey conducted by Ram and McRae, Chartered Accountants and its human resources company, Acc?d?.A total of 226 persons responded to the survey, with current students accounting for 56 per cent, former students 20 per cent, academic staff 12 per cent, administrative staff two per cent and others 10 per cent. Others included prospective students, persons who were both student and staff, parents, and other interested parties.The survey consisted of 13 questions,NFL Jerseys Wholesale, and according to a statement issued by the surveying entity, responses were collected over a four-day period using Survey Monkey,NFL Jerseys Wholesale, an online survey development cloud based company. The survey which was conducted during the week ended February 14, 2015, but was in fact the fourth to be carried out in recent weeks.On the question of salaries, 51 per cent agreed that the academic staff at UG should be paid salaries comparable to those at UWI, while 29 per cent do not. The remaining 20 per cent said they were unsure. The survey revealed that 85 per cent of staffers were in favour of such a proposal compared to only 45 per cent of students.Currently workers of the tertiary institution are on strike for a living wage, other improved benefits and better working conditions.The staff of the University initially demanded, among other things, a 60 per cent across the board increase in salaries for all categories of UA and UB staff [inclusive of part time and casual staff] payable from March 2015.On February 4, 2015, the University’s Negotiating Team offered a 25 per cent salary increase for all categories of staff over a three-year period [five per cent year one; 10 per cent year two; and 10 per cent year three] among other benefits for certain classes of staff such as house lots, duty free concessions, increases in travel allowances,Authentic NHL Jerseys, etc.The staff rejected this offer as, among other things, an annual? five per cent increase is normally granted, making the offer in effect a 10 per cent increase over three years. A counter proposal of salary increases of 25 per cent in year one; 25 per cent in year two and 25 per cent in year three was made.The Vice Chancellor of the University subsequently cancelled negotiations,Wholesale China NFL Jerseys, revoked the University’s initial offer, and insisted that workers must return to work before further negotiations.But 37 per cent of the respondents believe that the striking workers should have accepted the University’s offer of five per cent in 2015 and 10 per cent in each of the years 2016 and 2017. The remaining 63 per cent said the workers were right to reject the offer. None of the academic or administrative staff members who responded said the workers should accept the offer, while 45 per cent of the current and former students believed that the offer should have been accepted.Reinforcing their support for the workers, 57 per cent of the respondents consider the counter offer of 25 per cent,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, for each of the years 2015 to 2017 inclusive, reasonable. Looking at staff and students separately, 91 per cent of the academic or administrative staff members agreed, while only 52 per cent of the students were in favour.Asked whether workers should resume work before further negotiations, 56 per cent said no while 44 per cent said yes. Ninety-one per cent of the staff who responded said no, while only 47 per cent of the students agreed with this.A total of 202 respondents (32 staff,wholesale jerseys, 153 students and 17 others) provided what they considered a reasonable salary increase for 2015 as 25.2 per cent. The separate averages provided by staffers, students and others were 25.8 per cent, 25.5 per cent and 21.2 per cent respectively.Noting that the Guyana Constitution provides for free education from Nursery to University, the survey asked whether respondents believe that the country can afford free university education. This prompted 44 per cent to answer in the affirmative while 45 per cent said no, with the remainder being unsure. Administrative staff and “other” respondents were more in favour of free university education while only 43 per cent of current students, former students and academic staff agreed.An overwhelming 79 per cent of respondents believe that the Council of the University is politicised, compared with nine per cent who said no, with the remainder being unsure. The group which most felt th