Vice President calls on POTAG,UTAG to resort to negotiations

Accra, Oct.12, GNA- Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday appealed to members of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana and University Teachers Association of Ghana to use the negotiating table to address their grievances.

"I want to appeal to them to exercise restraint and make use of dialogue to be able to come out with an amicable solution to their challenges, instead of the current use of strikes." He said the on-going implementation of the single spine salary structure would subsequently address some of the perennial challenges that teachers encountered and called for restraint until they are migrated onto it.

Vice President Mahama said this when Reverend Professor Daniel A Nyarko, Rector of the Takoradi Polytechnic and some members of his staff called on him at the Castle, Osu.

The delegation was there to invite the Vice President to their next graduation ceremony, slated for December 18, this year. Vice President Mahama said Fair Wages Commission was doing everything possible to eliminate all the wage disparities among civil and public servants and hoped that by the end of the year, all agitations regarding salaries would be solved.

On the exploitation of oil and gas, he said the Polytechnics had a major role of training middle level technicians to take advantage of the resources for the benefit of the entire nation.

"A country like Korea started building up technologically through the use of Polytechnic graduates and today, they have one of the most efficient human resource base, which I believe we can also achieve." He reiterated government's determination to realize 98 per cent local content utilization of the oil and gas industry by 2020 and called on all stakeholders to live up to their responsibilities for government to achieve that feat.

Reverend Professor Nyarko said this time round, students of the school would graduate six months after completion, unlike in the past where some had to wait for over two years before graduation. He said the current system would also enable graduates to get their promotion on time and allow students to immediately progress into higher courses six months after completion.