UTAG Strike: Tertiary Education To Suffer As University Labour Unions Declare Indefinite Strike

• University students in Ghana are set to face a rough road on their academic journey in the coming days
• This is because their lecturers, administrators and other key staff have declared an indefinite strike on Monday, October 17
• UTAG, GAUA, TEWU and SSA-UoG are on strike over what they say is government's refusal to pay their fuel, vehicle maintenance and off-campus allowances
• They also accuse the government of taking unilateral decisions on these allowances at a time when the economic hardship was biting

Key labour unions facilitating the successful running of public tertiary education in Ghana have declared an indefinite strike on Monday, October 17, 2022.

The powerful University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and other labour unions such as Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), the Tertiary Education Workers Union (TEWU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) are all on strike.

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The four labour unions say the government has refused to pay their allowances for fuel, vehicle maintenance and off-campus duties.

They said in a statement dated October 16, 2022, that the government, their employer, has failed to honour the payment of the allowances even though the National Labour Commission (NLC) directed the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Adutwum, and other top government representatives to see to it their grievances are resolved.

“As a result of this development, we write to communicate that the intended strike action of all Labour Unions in the public universities in Ghana is to commence from Monday, 17th October 2022 as the Employer has, once again, failed to adhere to the directive of the NLC,” the statement said.

They accused the government of "blatant unilateral variation of agreed conditions of service in the face of hostile economic conditions.”

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The situation is expected to stall academic activities at all 15 public universities in Ghana, with the students bearing the brunt of the conflict between the government and the labour unions.

UTAG Warned the Government About a Possible Strike Weeks Earlier

Two weeks ago, UTAG entreated the government to tread carefully so as not to mar the already jeopardised tertiary education front.

YEN.com.gh reported previously that UTAG and the labour unions warned that they will not countenance any flagrant disregard of agreed modalities of Conditions of Service.

Since last month, the labour unions have been pushing the government to honour the details of an agreement reached in March on the implementation of the market premium or review the Single Spine Salary Structure in 2023.

Source: YEN.com.gh