By SYLVIA MWEETWA –

LECTURERS at Mulungushi University in Kabwe have vowed not to return to work until their demands are met.
The go-slow strike entered its 10th day yesterday despite management writing to lecturers on Thursday urging them to resume work.
Copperbelt University Academics Union (CBUAU) president Mwiya Songolo condemned the move by management describing it as unacceptable and meant to intimidate the union’s members instead of resolving issues at hand.
Mr Songolo said the union was in receipt of letters written to its members, signed by the institution’s registrar, asking the workers to immediately return to work.
“The union was demanding 25 per cent and later moved to 13 and now was asking for eight per cent which is a clear indication that it is committed to serving the interest  of  the  students,” he said.
He said management had since rejected the eight per cent proposal and instead settled for five per cent.
Mr Songolo emphasised that the union had not refused to get back to the bargaining table but accused management of not being willing to  find a lasting solution to the  problem and that the over compressed semesters should not be blamed on members of the union.
He said the union general secretary Kawunga Nyirenda had since written to management confirming receipt of the letters and indicated that the return of lecturers to class should not be done through intimidation.
But Mulungushi vice-chancellor Hellicy Ngambi said the sit-in protest is illegal as far as management is concerned and that the right channel to air their grievances was not followed.
The students, who reported at the campus on May 10, said it was becoming difficult to catch up with their school work as a result of the work stoppage by lecturers.