UTAG strike: We Don't have any confidence in those we're negotiating with - Gyampo

Secretary of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG-Legon), Prof Ransford Gyampo says the National Labour Commission (NLC) needs to be scrapped because they've deviated from their original mandate.

The National Labour Commission (NLC) has secured an interlocutory injunction from Labour Court 1 to compel UTAG to call off their strike action.

The lecturers according to the suit, were to comply with the directive of the Labour Commission and resume work as soon as possible.

However, Prof Gyampo believes the NLC is in the wrong.

He said instead of taking UTAG to court, the Commission was rather supposed to act as an arbiter between the striking lecturers and the government.

Speaking to Kwami Sefa Kayi in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Prof Gyampo said they've lost confidence in the negotiations because the NLC is not "independent enough".

" . . I believe the NLC must be scrapped because they're not independent enough to do the work they're supposed to do. It's surprising how the Labour Commission acts. They're supposed to be independent arbiters between government and labour, but that's not what the current NLC is doing," he argued.

According to him, "negotiators negotiating on behalf of government has failed. They've performed abysmally".

Way Forward

Asked what the way forward will be, Prof Gyampo said President Akufo-Addo needs to step in "and give us a commitment we can hold on to".

"With that, we can suspend the strike action. Currently, we don't have any confidence in those we're negotiating with," he said.

UTAG is currently on a nationwide strike over the failure of the government to improve the condition of service of its members.

According to the association, they have been in talks with government since 2012 yet there have been no results.

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