A spokesman for the protesting staff told journalists that they were owed two month salaries for July and August. Sheku Putka Kamara, who is a lecturer and helped organize the protest, also said they had several concerns they wanted the university authorities to address.
According to a letter addressed to the university, the aggrieved staff are seeking an end to a trend of disparity in remuneration between Sierra Leonean staff and foreign nationalities.
The protesting staff who included lecturers and administrative workers, further alleged that they receive no pay for overtime work and that they want the management to stop deducting their annual leave allowances from their gross monthly pay, which is against the country’s Labor laws.
Some other concerns of the protesting workers include overloading of work without compensation, and failure to pay social security as required by law. “We are saying enough is enough and things have to change,” Mr. Kamara said.
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology is a private international university with a presence in Africa, Europe, and Asia. The university’s headquarters is in Malaysia, from where it coordinates programs in campuses in about 10 countries, with a total student population of about 30, 000.
Other Limkokwing campuses are in Botswana, Cambodia, Lesotho, and the United Kingdom.
The school began operation in Sierra Leone three years ago. It hires its staff through a private employment agency called XL Management Services.
According to the aggrieved staff, repeated complaints to the XL management were constantly met with promises of actions that never materialized. Until going to press the strike is reportedly on course and yet to be resolved.
