The leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has called on the government to stick to the timelines agreed upon in their meeting to avert any possible industrial action.
UTAG last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government which led to the suspension of a 13-day-old strike by its members.
UTAG embarked on the strike over the government’s failure to restore conditions of service for members agreed on in 2012, among other demands.
The Secretary of the University of Ghana chapter of UTAG, Professor Ransford Gyampo in a Citi News interview said “UTAG signed an MoU to suspend the strike to pave way for a one-month negotiation period. Some of us had to practically swim against the tide in persuading our members to agree to this. We agreed to talk for just one month. We never agreed to negotiate in perpetuity. We are about 4 days into the one-month ultimatum and nothing concrete has been agreed upon and communicated to our members.”
“We are just serving a reminder to all, particularly the President and the Vice President, that after the one-month period, university teachers will review the situation and make a decision,” he added.
The industrial action
UTAG members had been on strike since the beginning of August 2021 because they want the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012 which they said was far better than the current situation.
The 2012 Single Spine package put entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2,084 while the current level puts lecturers’ salaries around $900.
The strike by UTAG severely affected academic and some non-academic work at the various tertiary campuses.
The High Court’s Labour Division, 1, advised the National Labour Commission (NLC), and UTAG, to settle the stalemate over their industrial action out of Court.
UTAG had earlier indicated that it will only call off its strike completely upon successful negotiation with the government and the NLC.
