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.
