The Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) has resolved to withdraw its services due to the inability of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to reach an agreement over improve conditions of service.

According to the Union, it is unfortunate that for almost two years, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has not been able to finalize issues on its condition of service, while members continue to work under very difficult situation.

Contained in a press statement, signed by Mark Dankyira Korankye, the General Secretary of TEWU and Ambrose Yao Kwadwodza, the National Chairman of TEWU, it noted that, the inability of the Fair wages commission to conclude negotiations on the conditions of service is prejudicial.

“Our Universities are expected to reopen, in January 2021, and our members will still be delivering their services and yet they will be working under a condition of service which has not been reviewed for close to 12 years.

“In view of the above, the union’s position is that, failure on the part of Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to give priority attention to immediately conclude negotiation on the new condition of service, for the unionized staff of the public universities, before the beginning of the academic year, in January 2021, which obviously will come with added responsibility with the intake of the first batch of graduates of the Free Senior High School, the union will advise itself”, it further pointed out.

TEWU has since June 2019 been engaging the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission on the review of conditions of service for unionized staff of the public universities, which expired as far back as 2008.

The outgoing Chairman of TEWU, Mr. Peter Koku Lumor, in 2019 warned of a possible strike if the conditions of service of non-teaching staff were not addressed.

According to him, all the reforms and interventions within the educational sector had, over the years, only addressed the concerns of teachers, leaving out non-teaching staff who, he said, also played critical roles in the sector.

Further revealing the entrenched challenges of teachers, he intimated that, the introduction of the double-track system had also put more pressure on non-teaching staff.

Touching on the issue, the acting General Secretary of TEWU, Mr. Mark Dankyira Korankye, called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, “recruit more non-teaching staff to lessen the burden on the current staff”.

“These increased numbers have brought with them increased workload on members of TEWU, without the necessary compensation. What is even more worrying is that, as if non-teaching staff do not matter, all discussions and interventions are towards teachers. It must be noted that without non-teaching staff, the wheel of these policies will grind to a halt”

In reaction to TEWU’s plea, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr. Bright Wireko Brobbey, appealed to the unions to involve the ministry in their negotiations with their respective sector ministries to enable the ministry to have an idea of their demands and the depth of such negotiations.