It's been over two hours and still no word has been received from the Management of the University of the South Pacific on when talks will take place to solve the outstanding issues with the USP Union, which has resulted in more than 400 workers walking off their jobs this morning.

General Secretary Litiana Waqalevu said they have not received any word from the Management, and maintains that the strike will continue until all their grievances are heard, even if it means going late into the night.

The Vice-Chancellor had earlier said that the graduation ceremony which is scheduled for tomorrow, will proceed despite the fact that majority of the workers will be on strike.

Waqalevu said if the graduation goes ahead, then they will move the strike closer to the venue at which the ceremony will be taking place.

A total of 380 members are on strike at the main Laucala Campus with another 37 members on standby in Labasa and Lautoka.

The USP Management maintains the strike action taken by members of the USP Union, is illegal and has called on the workers to go back to work. In a mass circulated e-mail to all staff and students, four minutes to the hour before they went on strike, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Rajesh Chandra informed them that the strike was illegal.

However Waqalevu maintains the Ministry of Labour has turned down the request by USP to stop the strike action, therefore she said the strike is legal.

She said they are going on strike because the USP management has not addressed their grievances and this involves the fact that management has dissolved the Media Centre on August 1st this year with no notice in writing given to union members on their future at the USP while there has been no advertising of vacant positions available at the University.