MAKERERE STUDNETS STRIKE OVER 10% FEES INCREAMENT

MUK STUDENTS STRIKE OVER TUITION INCREMENT.. They are striking against an increment in their tuition fees by 10%. Their teachers and other university staff are about to go on strike to also get a salary increment. The staff is supporting the student and has demanded that the university listens to them. The students have in the past have supported the staff demanding that the university listens to them. The paradox of these strikes is that what the students are protesting against is what could ideally be the solution to what the teachers are striking for (a salary raise).
Strikes are a protest to push for an agenda when negotiations fail. In work settings people get into strikes for the purpose of getting better conditions are work. The labor professionals call it industrial action. In school settings students may also strike to get better condition although sometimes there have been cases of students striking on trivial issues.In the last year we have seen strikes from teachers, doctors, students and lecturers. They have gone on strike for different reasons. The salary disputes are the main reasons for those who work. For the students, protests against fees hikes are some of the reasons why they go on strike.Strikes do achieve the purpose of going to strike. But along the way they also cause damage in various proportions. For the more civil strikes they usually get no work done and this affects service delivery. In schools and universities, if teachers strike, we notice that students will not complete course on time and so they will be half baked in the courses that are taught in halves. In hospitals, patients could die or suffer incessantly because doctors are not available to treat them.
For these reasons strikes need to be controlled. To control strikes the parties engaged in dispute should work together to make sure it does not reach the point of a strike only in the interest of themselves and the country. Chest thumping is not a solution. When it comes to salaries, if any promises are made by managers or government to workers, they should deliver them to avoid strikes. The same can be said of students and university administrations.Strikes can also be very destructive especially if the striking people get rowdy and start destroying various things in their midst. That is another aspect that needs to be considered when looking at the value of strikes. The monetary and physical loss that strikes cause need to be taken into account by both striking groups and those they are striking against. In the past students strikes have been dispersed by tear gas which has health risks for students. Sometimes the students have gone to destroy cars, shops and other installations to put their points across. The costs of this can be phenomenal.For these reasons, strikes need to be addressed before they take place. It can be seen that strikes usually occur when agreed positions are diverted from. If the agreements reached before strikes are kept to the word,strikes would be averted.