No headway as CETAG and UTAG strike enters week three
The resolve of the two teacher unions, the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana not to back down on their strike is biting hard as it enters the third week.
Their action is due to their quest for better conditions of service for the tertiary teacher.
Both associations rebuffed the National Labour Commission’s order for them to immediately resume work as they firmly stand by their demands.
This has created a state of helplessness for the Labour Commission as they have since been left looking up to Vice-Chancellors and Administrators of the various public universities to get their teachers back into the lecture halls.
Unfortunately, that did not yield any result as a meeting between UTAG and Vice Chancellors Ghana last Thursday ended without any way forward.
However, the situation has become dire as the fate of the academic calendar remains in the balance with students left stranded on various campuses.
It is also not clear whether the government will see reason with the striking teachers and return them to the lecture halls this week.
UTAG members on all campuses embarked on an industrial action to force the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012.
The 2012 conditions of service pegged UTAG is fighting for has placed the Basic plus Market Premium of a lecturer at $2,084.42.
UTAG has lamented that the current arrangement has reduced its members’ basic premiums to $997.84.
CETAG has also withdrawn its services over claims that the government had failed to implement the 2017-2020 conditions of service, as agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding signed between CETAG and the government.
They are also calling on the government to settle their interim premiums and book and research allowances.
This has brought academic work in 46 colleges of education across the country to a halt as result.
Meanwhile, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is also calling for calm on the labour front as worker unions continue to strike
This assurance is stemming from the fact that about five labour unions have embarked on industrial action in furtherance of demands for better conditions of service.
The Public Relations Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Earl Ankrah, has assured that the government is working to address the concerns of the striking workers.
“For us as government, it’s okay for workers to express their desire for better conditions of service. But we would rather wish that they went through the process because we work under law and give the employer some advance time, give the National Labour Commission some time and when they are invited, they come for timelines to be set for the issues to be taken care of.”
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
