The National Leaders of Labour Unions within the public universities say their strike action continues unabated.
The unions – University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Teachers and Educational Workers Union-Ghana (TEWU-GH), Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) and Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) – on Monday, October 17 withdrew their services over failure by government to stick to the conditions of service as agreed in June, 2021.
According to them, as all attempts to resolve the impasse have proven futile, including the intervention of the National Labour Council (NLC), the Union leaders have urged their members to continue to stay at home till further notice.
A statement jointly issued by the Labour Unions said: “It is unfortunate that the two (2) hearings at the NLC have not yielded the needed results as the Employer has refused to discuss “terms of payment” with us, as directed by the Commission.”
It, however, asked the National Labour Commission (NLC) to “boldly direct the Employer (Government) to do the needful in abiding by the ruling of the Commission in its next sitting, which is slated for Wednesday, 2nd November 2022.”
“We are not happy with our industrial action, but it is our last resort in the face of the brute show of Governmental arbitrariness and insensitivity in handling our plight during these hard times.
“We are in a crisis as alluded by the President of our Republic during his recent address on the State of the Economy and leadership have been magnanimous and demonstrated our willingness, at previous engagements with Government, to make some sacrifices given the difficult times in which we find ourselves.
“For instance, we are prepared to allow Government to stagger the payment or develop a payment plan over a period even if the Employer cannot afford to pay off the entire allowance in one go.
“But the Government has chosen to remain intransigent and adamant.”
Meanwhile, school authorities have been urged to maintain skeletal staff at their offices to ensure the smooth running of essential services like the processing of salaries, provision of security and health services, among others.
“In addition, Heads of Academic Units can visit their offices to perform minor administrative duties once a week, preferably on Mondays, with the aid of a skeletal staff,” they stated.