Secretary of Universities Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has expressed that the Association is “negotiation fatigued” over unmet demands from government following the expiration of a one-month ultimatum in resolving matters on their conditions of service.
According to him, the Association signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to negotiate for a month their terms of service. The MOA, Prof Gyampo indicated, clearly stated that the “strike action had not been called off but been suspended”.
Additionally, he revealed that the suspension was only meant to pave way for them to “negotiate within one month”.
“The one month ended about two to three days ago and nothing concrete has been arrived at and communicated to members. So, that is the reason why a presser was issued by the national executive committee, explaining what had happened. Generally, the next line of action is actually encapsulated in the MOA that we signed that said that we had only suspended the strike action in the hope that we’ll be able to negotiate for better conditions of service within one month. If we are not able to do so, it clearly implied in the MOA that we would have to abide.
“For now, I am told even though the one-month negotiation period has expired, there’s going to be a meeting between our negotiators and government side on Monday. Some of us are negotiation fatigued. I get tired when I hear about talks and negotiations, particularly when they prove not to yield desired results”.
Prof Ransford Gyampo
UTAG strike action
In his resolve to justify the process leading to the strike action, Prof Gyampo intimated that a “good majority of our members” felt that UTAG has been negotiating almost in “perpetuity” for better conditions of service.
This, he explained, was informed largely by the “lackadaisical and feet-dragging attitude” on the part of employers and negotiators on the government side.
“So, when we embarked on that industrial action, the idea was that, it’s either we are given what we want or given better conditions of service or we don’t go to the classroom. Somewhere along the line, there were calls that negotiators and employers were really furious and they wanted us to talk again…”
Prof Ransford Gyampo
Following the decision, Prof Gyampo indicated that it took the intervention of top brass in the country and the plea of some students to return to the negotiating table which subsequently led to calling off the strike.
“The calibre of people who had shown concern about the plights of lecturers and revealed to ensure finality in this matter are top notch. So, they managed to speak to some of us to persuade our ranks and members to agree for us to suspend the strike and to go back to [the] negotiation table. It was not an easy thing persuading our ranks that we would have to suspend the strike. But eventually, some of us managed to swim against the tide and to convince them… that’s how come we signed the MOA”.
Prof Ransford Gyampo
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