Only UTAG members can call off strike; no politician can – Gyampo

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) says only its members can call off their protracted industrial action.

According to the Secretary to the University of Ghana Chapter of the Association, Prof. Ransford Gyampo, it is out of place for any politician to announce to the world that the group has called off its ongoing strike.

The lecturers appear to have defied a ruling by the Labour Division of the Accra High Court that placed an injunction on their strike.

This compelled the intervention of Parliament which held a meeting between the UTAG leadership, the Fair Wages, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Employment and Labor Relations.

Addressing the media moments after the meeting, Ranking Member on the Education Committee in Parliament, Peter Nortsu Kortoe, said UTAG had agreed to end the industrial action and return to the lecture halls on Monday.

“On our appeal, they have agreed to call off the strike on the condition that government is ready to sit down with them immediately for them to resolve outstanding matters. The minister gave us the assurance that they are going to be committed. Once the Committee has directed, there is no way he as a leader of the government delegation will fail to meet with them even if it’s 24 hours a day; they will meet,” he told Accra-based JoyNews.

But, Prof Ransford Gyampo has denied that assertion saying that cannot be the case.

“No politician can call off the UTAG strike,” he said on his Facebook page.

He further wrote that; “No Sponsored Propagandistic Media Reportage can pressurize anyone.”

“Only members can rescind their decision after they are convinced. If they do, they will communicate.”

UTAG wants the government to restore their 2012 conditions of service, which pegged the monthly income of entry-level lecturers at $2,084.

The Association has complained that the current arrangement has reduced its members’ basic premiums to $997.84.