Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, has expressed government’s commitment to acting in good faith to continue negotiations with the Universities Teachers Association (UTAG).
According to him, negotiations would be concluded immediately UTAG calls off its strike. Mr Baffour-Awuah emphasized that the government is willing to continue the negotiations with the union once it puts finality to the strike action and heads back to the lecture halls.
His comments come after the Labour Division of the Accra High Court granted an interlocutory injunction application filed against the strike by UTAG by the National Labour Commission (NLC).
“Government has acted in in good faith and is ever willing to continue negotiations with UTAG. We want due process to be followed and I have given them an assurance that if today they call off the strike, I wouldn’t mind asking that we lock ourselves in the room and make sure that we finish negotiations before we come out. So, government is ever willing to sit down with UTAG and we have always demonstrated that willingness to negotiate with them”.
Ignatius Baffour-Awuah
On his part, following a meeting with UTAG, the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Education Committee and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the Ranking member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, revealed that the UTAG has agreed in principle to call off its strike. He indicated that after listening to the cases, government realised that there will be the need for more dialogue. Following this, he noted that parliament finally appealed as a committee to UTAG to call off the strike which they agreed in Principle.
“We expect they call off the strike and then continue with the negotiations”.
Peter Nortsu-Kotoe
Court action against UTAG by NLC
Speaking to journalists after court proceedings on Tuesday, February 15, lawyer for the UTAG Kwesi Keli-Deletaa expressed that the motion by his side was seeking to enforce the directive of the [National] Labour Commission, which was filed before the injunction application was filed. He explained that in his view, the main motion which is seeking to enforce the directive of the NLC “should have been heard first but the judge thought otherwise and decided that the injunction application should be heard first and the outcome of that application is what you all witnessed in court today, the judge decided to grant the interlocutory injunction application”.
The Commission had ruled that the strike by UTAG, embarked upon on Monday, January 10, was illegal. This was after a meeting with the labour unions and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations held on Thursday, January 13, 2022.
Following the meeting, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Bright Wireku Brobbey, addressing journalists, intimated that government was expecting that the unions did the needful.
“In the spirit of transparency and very mutual respect for them, they have assured them that whatever allowance is due them because they were captured in the 2022 budget [by] January they are going to be paid. Therefore, the Commission has directed that they go and call off the strike immediately”.
Bright Wireku Brobbey
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