UTAG’s Refusal to Honour our Invitation is Unfortunate – NLC

The National Labour Commission (NLC) has described as unfortunate the latest decision by the leadership of the University Teacher’s Association of Ghana (UTAG) not to honour its invitation to find a lasting solution to issues dragging the strike declared by the latter.

UTAG last week in a letter signed by its legal representative turned down an invitation to meet with the NLC and the government in a bid to resolve its ongoing strike.

This followed a High court directive to UTAG and the NLC to settle their issues out of court.

Executive Secretary of the NLC, Ofosu Asamoah said his outfit is unhappy about UTAG’s decision to decline the meeting invitation.

He said the commission will however hope that the two parties can resolve the issue amicably.

“The Commission has written to the government side upon the letter it received from UTAG. On Wednesday, when the commission meets, it will take a close look at the letter and take a decision on it. They have thwarted the efforts of the commission to facilitate settlement as directed by the court. It is an unfortunate decision.”

“If the commission finds that they are engaging the government [directly] and the matter will be settled, then fine. The most important thing we want is that the matter is resolved, but I don’t think that it goes down well for a party to defy the orders of the commission and even when ordered by the court, they still go ahead to defy it. It is an unfortunate development,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, is optimistic that university lecturers will call off their strike in the coming days.

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said some decisions have been taken and will be announced soon.

Speaking to Citi News after meeting all Vice Chancellors of public universities in Ghana, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said the government will do all it can to end the strike by UTAG.

“We met with the Vice-Chancellors of the various universities and discussed a number of issues, bordering around how to get our university teachers, without whom schools will not run back to the lecture halls.”

“Some important decisions were made, and I am glad about the outcome. We are going to follow through to ensure that the strike is called off in the coming days.”

Source: Thenewsroomonline