UNIVERSITY of Eswatini (UNESWA) workers have suspended their industrial action after reaching an agreement with management on the payment of the cost of living adjustment (CoLA).
The university has since committed to paying the workers the 3.05% CoLA with full backpay on December 19. This agreement was reached yesterday in a meeting between the two parties, as confirmed by the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel (ALAAP) Secretary General (SG) Mfunwa Dlamini. He said the suspension of the strike was pending the CoLA payment on their pay day; December 19, as promised by the management.
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Dlamini said workers were expected to resume work today.
Since last Friday, the workers engaged in the strike action in demand of CoLA, which they last received last year. The resolve to engage in the industrial action was a culmination of fruitless negotiations the workers had been having with the management since April.
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Previously, management had offered to pay the workers only the 3.05% adjustment, promising to settle their backpay by February. Its argument was that the university did not have enough funds in their coffers to cater for the CoLA and backpay all at once.
However, the workers maintained that they would not stop the strike unless they were paid in full, a position they held and communicated to the institution’s management on Monday. The university’s financial strain was evident in that the workers’ monthly salaries had been delayed of late, including this month. The management blamed this on the late payment of the monthly subvention by government.
Also, the institution had previously disclosed that over half of its monthly government subvention of E40.53 million was used to pay workers’ salaries. As at the second quarter of the financial year 2025/26, the university reported that its monthly government subvention of E40.53 million covered only salaries and pay-as-you-earn (PAYE). For the monthly salaries and PAYE, the university reported that it spent E29 million and E11.53 million.
Further, as at September 30, the university’s debt stood at E572.7 million. This amount comprised an unpaid E200 million towards the UNESWA Pension Fund, remittances to various financial institutions amounting to E278 million, E53 million in gratuities, E28 million towards employees’ medical aid scheme, and E13.7 million that was owed to suppliers of teaching materials.
To enable the university to honour its financial obligations, its management recommended an additional E15 million per month, which it said could be obtained either through tuition fee normalisation or increased subvention.
UNESWA acting Registrar Richard Masuku confirmed the latest development and said the university made the undertaking on the premise that government had promised to make some payments. He said operations would be normalised today, a communication that was also officially made to students through a memo.
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