Executive Secretary of National Labour Commission (NLC), Ofosu Asamoah says the Commission is yet to determine the legality of the strike of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).
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According to him, while they have received in writing the intention of UTAG to embark on the strike, the NLC has contacted stakeholders who were involved to finding solution to the lecturers’ problem and received assurance that the issue will be solved.
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Detailing on the issue so far, Ofosu Asamoah told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show: “UTAG wrote to us about their strike informing us that they are still in negotiation with government and that if things don’t turn out well, they will embark on a strike. We also wrote to the stakeholders involved in the solution to the problem and we met them onboard and we were assured that they were engaging the leadership of the Union in trying to resolve the matter. So, we have been following the issue until Thursday evening after the minister had presented the mid-year review.
As a commission we were not in a haste to summon them because we had all the assurance that they are likely to solve the issue”.
The Executive Secretary, while describing the strike as an unfortunate one, has expressed that the Commission is every ready to resolve the problem between the dissenting parties.
Meanwhile, he has disclosed that the NLC is yet to determine the legality of UTAG’s strike.
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“The legality or legitimacy of the strike will be determined by members of the Commission. We will have a meeting on that today”, Ofosu Asamoah stressed.
Background
The University Teachers Association of Ghana, UTAG, is set to begin an indefinite strike from today, Monday, August 2, 2021.
In a communiqué on July 30, UTAG directed all its members to comply with the strike.
UTAG members on all campuses are to withdraw teaching and other activities like examinations, invigilation, marking of examination scripts and the processing of examination results.
The Association has been asking the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon with the government in 2012.
The 2012 conditions of service pegged the Basic plus Market Premium of a lecturer at $2,084.42.
UTAG has complained that the current arrangement has reduced its members’ basic premiums to $997.84.
