UTAG strike: University teachers don’t eat meetings, negotiations – Gyampo to Gov’t, NLC
Professor Ransford Gyampo, the newly elected Secretary of the striking University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), says regular meetings between the association and the government are of little use to their concerns.
UTAG, he claims, has no faith in the national labour commission’s ability to resolve the impasse between them and the government.
He told Francis Abban on Wednesday’s Morning Starr, “What’s occurring among politicians is that they encourage their people to tighten their belts while they’re relaxing their belts and feasting.”
“We’ve been negotiating since 2012, and I heard there’s a meeting today to discuss a negotiation roadmap,” he continued. They have no intention of negotiating. It makes me chuckle… Meetings and discussions are not eaten by university professors. We’ve been negotiating for over 10 years; how many more years do you want us to bargain for? Notify us so we can tell the UTAG members so we know we’re negotiating indefinitely.”
Last Tuesday, UTAG started an indefinite strike over terrible working conditions and the government’s unwillingness to address long-standing issues.
The NLC, on the other hand, claims that the move is unconstitutional, especially because the organization’s leadership is still talking with the government over its demands.
The NLC obtained a 10-day interlocutory injunction against UTAG’s strike.
Despite the National Labour Commission’s action against the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), its 13 member universities have unanimously opted to continue their strike (NLC).
“Following the stalling of negotiations with the government on our Conditions of Service (CoS), which culminated in our declaration of a nationwide withdrawal of teaching and related activities among member public universities, the National Executive Committee (NEC) tasked all local branch executives to convene an emergency meeting to solicit the views of all local branch executives,” the group said in a statement Monday.
-starfm