UTAG to officially announce suspension of strike action today

The University Teachers Association of Ghana(UTAG) has indicated the intention to officially announce the suspension of its strike action by close of day today 20th August 2021 and the way forward, its National Treasurer, Mr Isaac Kofi Appiah has disclosed.

According to him, they have presented their demands to the government and going through have indicated what they can do to address their issues and giving assurance to the association to have patience.

He noted that the government has requested for a meeting with the Association from Monday to come for discussion and ‘’from there when the government can meet our request then everything will come to an end ‘’ he added.

He gave the hint in a reaction to the UTAG strike suspension on Koforidua based Freedom Radio’s ‘’ Yen Man’’ show hosted by Kwaku Aboagye Apenteng.

Mr Appiah noted that UTAG has communicated to all of its campuses on their stand of suspending the strike action and therefore all members should be in the know.

‘’At latest by 2 pm today we will release a statement to that effect telling the general public that we have suspended the strike action’’ he reiterated.

He said the students to are requesting some extra days to enable them to prepare adequately for the exams due to the strike action that occurred, therefore they are hoping the various campuses will make the necessary arrangements so that their request would be granted ‘’because they are our client and mostly the client is always right’’ he indicated.

‘’I believe every campus will look at ways that the students can have some adequate time to enable them in their preparation before the semester exams.

UTAG members have been on strike since the beginning of August 2021 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 2012 Single Spine package put entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2,084 while the current level puts lecturers’ salaries around $900.

The strike by UTAG has severely affected academic and some non-academic work at the various tertiary campuses.

The High Court’s Labour Division, 1, advised the National Labour Commission (NLC), and UTAG, to settle the stalemate over their industrial action out of Court.

Source: Kwame Akoto/ freedomradiogh.com