UTAG will resume strike from October 8 after government fails to address concerns

The Ghana University Teachers Association (UTAG) has ordered its members to resume suspended strike action from Friday, October 8, 2021.

The move follows the government’s failure to respond to faculty demands for their conditions of service.

The Association of University Teachers of Ghana (UTAG) launched a strike on August 2, 2021 to protest what it says are their poor terms of service.

After two weeks of strike action, they reached an agreement with the government to suspend their strike action and resume negotiations for a mandatory period of 30 days, in the hope that their concerns will be addressed.

Among other things, the Association of University Teachers of Ghana called on the government to pay $ 2,084 to beginning teachers.

But after the expiration of the mandatory 30 days of negotiation, UTAG orders members to suspend all teaching-related activities on campus.

In a circular to members seen by JoyNews, the Association’s new national president, Professor Samuel Nunoo, said the government has remained adamant about its stance despite the Association’s shift in stance on a number of passions.

“For this reason, the National Executive Committee of UTAG at its meeting on October 1, 2021, members are expected to resume the suspension of teaching and related activities until further notice.”

The Ghana University Teachers Association has also accused the government of bad faith in its negotiations for improved conditions of service.

The Association said that despite withdrawing some of their demands and the government’s pledge to engage, nothing tangible has yet been achieved.

The secretary of the Association’s University of Ghana branch, Professor Ransford Gyampo, also wrote about the situation and said professors at various university campuses were angry at the lack of progress in the negotiations.

According to Professor Gyampo, who wrote an open letter to President Akufo-Addo and the Vice President, the situation has generated considerable concern among the speakers who are angry at the lack of progress.

“As you may know, some of us have deliberately kept silent about what happened after UTAG’s decision to temporarily suspend its strike and return to the negotiating table. We believe stakeholders needed some peace of mind to talk.

“However, I would like to respectfully remind you that the one month trading period expires in five days. Unfortunately, so far nothing concrete has been achieved. As you may know, some of us had to practically have begged our members to agree to suspend the strike for negotiations because we knew you both were worried about the stalemate and you were very determined. to settle the matter.

He added that the Minister of Finance had not attended any of the meetings called: “Unfortunately, I repeat, nothing concrete has been achieved. I am told that most of the problems relate to your Minister of Finance, who still does not attend meetings himself, but delegates, probably, because he considers UTAG matters trivial. He may continue to treat us like rags, but when there is mobilization of the anger of the university professors in a way that creates a praetorian situation, the money will stop with you to face the mess.