MacDougall hopes to avert security strike

Security staff warned the university's administration via official statement last Thursday that they are likely to stick to their schedule and proceed with their strike today.

But some within the security personnel have thrown cold water on these plans teling The Caravan they are not sure if they are going to strike because last-minute negotiations took place between the administration and the Independent Syndicate late Thursday.

Administration senior officials confirmed that the meetings took place.

"In the last few days we had two very positive meetings with the leadership of the independent syndicate and we are moving forward to solving the issues," said Brian MacDougall, Vice President for Planning and Administration.

He talked about the issues in particular stressing that the one-hour rest demand for security has been resolved by formal communication with all the security supervisors. They will have their rest breaks scheduled between the third and fifth hour of their shift otherwise they are eligible for a one hour over time payment.

"The second issue was related to the structure of the contracts of all staff and we have agreed that a committee will review the content of the staff contracts ... those responsible for this committee are Hani Sayed chair of the law department, Karim Abdel Latif our legal advisor and Laila Khalil, Executive director of human resources," said MacDougall

The last issue the Vice-President and the Independent Syndicate discussed was regarding meal allowance; they have agreed to engage in negotiations on June 10 to find a solution to the matter.

MacDougall told The Caravan that the administration reviewed the total responsibilities of security officers and they are satisfied based on market assessment that the total compensation provided to security officers is adequate. AUC pays one of the highest wages for security personnel in the market.

But MacDougall said he did not know of an investigation regarding Mahmoud Zouk, the Executive Director of Public Safety.

Tarek Maghraby, President of the Independent Syndicate, confirmed the ongoing negotiations with administration, but insisted that there is an investigation regarding Zouk.

The investigation was not discussed during meetings between the administration and the Independent Syndicate or security staff.