Some UTAG Members Urge Union's Leadership To End Anti-Galamsey Strike
- Some University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) members have urged the union's national executives to end the ongoing strike
- According to them, the government has already started addressing galamsey, and thus, continuing with the strike was unjustifiable
- The group also urged UTAG to set up a monitoring team to monitor the government's progress in the fight against galamsey
Some University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) members have issued a three-day ultimatum to the association’s national executives to end the strike immediately.
The members, who described themselves as the 'Silent Majority', said the ongoing anti-galamsey strike has no justification whatsoever.
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They stressed that Organised Labour, which had originally threatened to embark on industrial action to force the government to address the galamsey menace, had called it off after the government assured them of measures to tackle the menace.
At a press conference on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the UTAG group stated that in light of recent action taken by the government, including the deployment of military officers to illegal mining hotspots, the ongoing strike has become untenable.
On behalf of the group, Professor Isaac Boadi stated that UTAG’s executives needed to reassess the situation and employ a more strategic and thoughtful approach in their future engagements with the government.
They also urged the executives to set up a team solely responsible for monitoring the government’s implementation of its roadmap to addressing the galamsey menace.
UTAG distances itself from Organised labour
Professor Eric Abavare also said Organised Labour’s decision to suspend the nationwide strike was unilaterally taken by the union’s leadership.
The President of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology chapter of UTAG told Citi FM that the suspension of strike action did not reflect the views of the union's affiliated associations.
He said the leadership of Organised Labour had failed to consult or engage with them on the matter and had merely read an already prepared speech at a meeting held on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
He said the situation was what had informed UTAG’s decision to disassociate itself from Organised Labour and declare its own indefinite strike to demand the government’s immediate action on the illegal mining menace.
He said UTAG still stood by its initial demands, urging the government to declare a total ban on all small-scale mining activities in the country and a state of emergency in the mining communities.
TUTAG joins anti-galamsey strike
YEN.com.gh also reported that the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) had announced plans to also strike to demand government action on illegal mining.
TUTAG expressed disappointment with Organised Labour suspending its planned strike on October 10 and demanded the law that allows mining in forest reserves to be rescinded.
Proofread by Bruce Douglas, senior copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
