UTAG threatening to go on strike?

The University Teachers Association of Ghana(UTAG),threat

to the government to pay all their outstanding salaries in full before they


will teach students come the beginning of the next academic year failure to do


this will result in a nationwide strike action seems to have caught authorities


off-guard.





Students in the public tertiary institutions are still


smarting from last year’s strike action which altered the academic calendar and


nearly bringing university education in the country to an abrupt end only for


the president Prof. J. E. A. Mills to intervene when UTAG and the Education Ministry


had taken entrenched positions seems to be rearing its ugly head again this


time around.


They contend that unless their salaries are paid in


full they are not going to step into the lecture halls since the promise by the

government to honour all their outstanding arrears after the strike impasse


last year seems not to have been adhered to hence their threat to go on another


nationwide strike if their demands are not met.


It is very unfortunate that a permanent solution which


was supposed to have been found to forestall the recurrence of strike actions by


lecturers in the country seems to


have eluded the parties involved in the negotiation process, with students


bearing the brunt of such actions. It is my hope that governmenttakes this


threat very seriously and finds ways of averting another nationwide strike which


will not augur very well for the very reputation of government on how important


it values tertiary education in the country.


Students across the country are appealing to UTAG and


the Education Ministry not to take entrenched positions during negotiations but

rather come to a common ground which hitherto was very evident during the last


negotiations. I am saddened whenever a party involved in negotiation concerning


their remunerations resort to using strike action to press home their demand.


My interaction with Mr. Austin Gammey, a conflict


resolution expert and one time minister of state during the 1990’s, last year


revealed in an interview that under no circumstance should parties involved in


labour negotiation embark on strike but rather exhaust all the possible avenues


in labour resolutions to find a lasting solution to their differences.


Government, notwithstanding this position by Mr. Gammey should endeavor to do


its utmost best to stave off threats of strike actions from all sectors of the


economy. I am sometimes inclined to believe this school of thought that believe


government only understands the language of strikes


before it addresses the grievances of workers which shouldn’t be the case at

all, but rather tell them the real situation on the ground for them to give


authorities sometime to address their concerns.


The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary


Education, Mahama Ayariga upon hearing the news has promised that the ministry


as a matter of urgency will be meeting with the leadership of UTAG to find an


amicable solution to their demands. I believe his experience as a student


leader during his days at the University of Ghana, may influence him to hasten


the negotiating process for UTAG to rescind their threat of embarking on a


nationwide.


The old adage that says that the snake that would bite


you will never show you its fangs though true is not applicable in this


scenario; it seems government has been very fortunate to have seen the fangs of


UTAG (threat of an impending strike) and should tread cautiously not to be

bitten by the snake knowing very well how some toxins can clot the human blood.


Government should do what is best for UTAG and that of university students


across the country alike. A word to the wise they say is enough.








Eric


Oteng


Jesse,


Santa


Maria,





Accra


CT 3652 Cantonments- Accra.