UTAG suspends Strike as NLC, Employment Ministry withdraw court case
The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has agreed to suspend its strike, following an emergency meeting with the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
This is contained in a Memorandum of Agreement between the government and the UTAG, copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, signed for the government while Professor Charles Ofosu Marfo, National President of UTAG, signed on behalf of the Association.
UTAG and the government in the Memorandum agreed to begin negotiations on the matter from Monday, August 23, 2021.
It also agreed that the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, in conjunction with the National Labour Commission, would take steps to discontinue all legal processes against UTAG while UTAG would also take steps to suspend the ongoing strike action.
The statement said the government acknowledged the need to improve the working conditions of University teachers and would treat the agreement with all the seriousness it deserved.
NLC secured the court injunction against UTAG’ s strike on August 2, arguing that the law barred UTAG from proceeding on the industrial action when negotiations were underway.
UTAG is demanding the implementation of a 2012 Single Spine package, which put entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2,084.