The government has been directed by the National Labour Commission, NLC, to resolve the grievances of Technical university teachers in the country.
This was made known in a statement issued by the Technical University Teacher’s Association of Ghana (TUTAG) after meeting with the NLC.
“TUTAG is happy to announce that the government has been directed to resolve all issues [raised by TUTAG] within 60 days. (ie 2 months). The order was given after the National Labour Commission observed that our strike was legal,” the Association noted in the statement.
Members of TUTAG began a nationwide strike on June 14, 2021, to demand the payment of their 2018/2019 Research arrears, negotiation of their conditions of service, among other issues.
The association however announced the suspension of the strike on Saturday, June 19, 2021, after receiving a favourable response from the Minister of Education, Osei Yaw Adutwum.
“After listening to the Education Minister, we observed that there are still individuals in political positions that citizens can trust. From our observations of his verbal and non-verbal communication, we could see the natural sincerity that was oozing from both this verbal and non-verbal communication. Our encounter with Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum was the beginning of the shift of TUTAG from mistrust to mutual trust, hence the decision to reconsider our position.”
In its statement, TUTAG noted that: “Though our strike has been declared legal, and we could have decided to remain on strike till all our issues were resolved, we wish to inform the Education Minister that our decision to suspend the strike with immediate effect was based on our trust and confidence in his assurances. The word worthy of note is “suspend”. We are only suspending the strike to give Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum the benefit of the doubt”.
According to TUTAG, besides the assurances of the Education Minister, it has also secured two important documents that would facilitate the resolution of its demands.
They include a letter from the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to begin negotiations on the 29th of June 2021, and a ruling from the National Labour Commission that contains timeliness within which the issues should be resolved.
Click here to read the full statement from TUTAG