Professor Charles Marfo, President of the University Teachers Organization of Ghana (UTAG), says the association sympathizes with students who have been adversely impacted by the current strike.
He claims, however, that this is the only feasible strategy for fighting for their welfare.
He informed that if the government had behaved in good faith and paid them their due, the issue might have been avoided.
He added also that the association tried its utmost to give the National Labour Commission enough time to intervene, but nothing was done.
“We sympathize with the students. This is the effect we knew our strike will have, that is why we didn’t just jump into it. Three clear weeks to the strike, we notified the National Labour Commission about the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards negotiations about our conditions of service”.
“One would have thought that somebody would have taken us seriously but, as usual, we hardly even got a meeting with them… It is unfortunate, but we have to see to our needs too.” \s\s \s\sUTAG members have been on strike since the beginning of August because they want the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012 which they said was far better than the current situation.
The UTAG strike has had a significant impact on academic and non-academic activities at different tertiary institutions.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Ghana, and other higher institutions have already declared a suspension of exams as a result of the strike, which has no end in sight.
Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has obtained an interlocutory order requiring the University Teachers Association of Ghana to end its strike.
Prof. Marfo, on the other hand, said that the National Executive Committee has yet to decide whether or not to call off the strike in light of the developments.
“When the NEC meets, and they think that what the government or the courts are demanding we have to go by them, we will… It is unfortunate that when we have not been heard, we will be dragged to court. It seems like people are using power unnecessarily because they have it, so they can use it to force us to go into the classroom… If you force us to the classroom, can you force us to teach? ” he inquired.
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