It is NOW or NEVER, UTAG will strike again and soon – UTAG

UPDATE ON NEGOTIATIONS FOLLOWING THE SUSPENSION OF WITHDRAWAL OF TEACHING AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

You may recall that a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was reached and/or signed between UTAG and our Employer to reopen negotiations on the Conditions of Service (COS) of UTAG members following the withdrawal of teaching and related activities on our various universities and the subsequent suspension of same.

The roadmap of the MOA required of the parties to reopen and complete negotiations within one (1) month, covering specific items assented to by the parties. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of UTAG wishes to inform its members that while every effort is being made to reach an amicable resolution, real results have not been achieved yet due to the actions and inactions of the Employer.

The key concern of UTAG is the restoration of the salary of entry point of a lecturer to the 2012 levels, which stood at the cedi equivalent of US$2,084.00 and has presently depreciated to less than US$997.00 per the prevailing exchange rates.

During this round of the negotiations, the Employer indicated to UTAG that it could no longer negotiate the Interim Market Premium and Non-Basic Salary Allowance. Rather, the Employer was only interested in negotiating the Research component of the Book and Research Allowances (BRA), which is a clear breach of good faith on the Employer’s own commitment.

As a sign of magnanimity on the part of UTAG, the Association still went ahead to negotiate for the Research component of the BRA. However, that also did not yield any tangible results.

It is important to indicate that UTAG has been overly generous by shifting its position substantially and even given ample time for the Employer to do the needful, subject to the conduct and implementation of the Labour Market Survey results which we have agreed effective December 2021.

However, as negotiations, the Employer has not yet returned with results as promised, suggesting to us that the Employer is stuck with a position that is not satisfactory to UTAG. This is quite frustrating, especially so when our situation is deplorable and does not compare to the Cos of our colleagues on the continent: e.g… Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, among others.

We wish to take this opportunity to remind the Employer that the Cos of the University Teacher are so bad to the extent that our brilliant and promising young students are not attracted to the teaching profession and prefer to go elsewhere to the detriment of their motherland. UTAG is really worried about what it foresees as a repeat of a sour history, L.e., what happened in the 1980’s when University Teachers migrated to other countries in the continent due to the relatively better Cos they were offered.

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UTAG would also like to draw the Employer’s attention to the fact that its members are not “strike happy. However, we would have no option than to resume the withdrawal of teaching and related services on our various campuses if the Employer fails to approach and address our concerns frontally.

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By this update, UTAG wishes to direct its members to remain calm as leadership continues to work for our ultimate good. You would be informed of our (obvious) next line of action in due course.

It is NOW or NEVER!

Thank you very much.

Prof Charles Marfo

National President

Dr Eric K. K. Abavare National Secretary