We Won’t Call Off Strike Till Our Demands Are met – UTAG Insists
Striking members of the University Teacher’s Association of Ghana, UTAG, say they will not return to the lecture halls until the government meets their demands for better conditions of service.
UTAG has been on strike since January 10, 2022, over their employer’s failure to review their conditions of service since 2017.
Continuing and fresh students continue to bear the brunt of the angry teachers who have been in and out of several meetings with the government all in a bid to resolve the impasse.
National secretary of UTAG, Dr. Asare Asante-Annor, said their legal team is set to return to court on Tuesday.
“There was the issue that because of the worsening economic conditions, the government should give us an interim market premium of 114% of our current basic so that when the substantive issue is done, then our members will be put back so that they are not worse off. And we have had a couple of meetings, but we have still not been able to reach any form of agreement. More specifically we don’t have any offer from the government to our members.”
“In the communiqué, we issued on the 10th of January, we stated clearly that the employer or the government should expedite action with regard to our demands so that the academic calendar is not affected, but unfortunately that has not happened and so long as our demands are not satisfied, we will continue with the strike.”
UTAG has been on strike since January 10 to force the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012.
The 2012 conditions of service pegged the Basic plus Market Premium of a lecturer at $2,084.42.
UTAG has complained that the current arrangement has reduced its members’ basic premiums to $997.84.
The National Labour Commission dragged UTAG to court, but the two were told to return to the negotiation table.
The Commission sued, seeking the enforcement of its order, which was defied by public university teachers in the country.
The Commission earlier directed UTAG to call off its strike, but this directive was not adhered to.