University students in Ghana are protesting the University Teachers Association of Ghana's (UTAG) strike, claiming that they were charged high tuition and hostel expenses.
"We want to remind government that University students are suffering!!" said Kofi Geogr Abuah, Convener of the Coalition of Concerned University Teachers, in a news statement issued on Wednesday, January 19. Medical students, business students, nursing students, international students, computer science students, engineering students, agricultural students, student entrepreneurs, and even psychology students are suffering!!!
"It's unjust to us, university students, to pay costly tuition and housing expenses at this early stage of the academic calendar just to have our instructors go on an indefinite strike." COVID-19 has already become an albatross around our neck, disrupting our learning and academic operations.
"Furthermore, difficulties about our student loans, housing, and scholarships are still up in the air, causing us to begin this academic year in such agony." We want to encourage our fellow university students in the United States and internationally to speak up."
Meanwhile, despite the National Labour Commission's (NLC) judgment that their strike is illegal, members of UTAG have decided not to call it off.
"Members determined that they will not call off the strike until their demands have been granted," according to a statement made by UTAG during an emergency meeting on Monday, January 17.
The Universities Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) are on strike, according to the NLC.
This came after a meeting on Thursday, January 13 with labor unions and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
Bright Wireku Brobbey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, told journalists after the meeting that the government expects the unions to do their job.
"They have guaranteed them that whatever allowance is due them since they were recorded in the 2022 budget January will be paid, in the spirit of transparency and mutual respect." As a result, the Commission has ordered that they immediately end the strike.
"This is wonderful for Ghana because schools had just resumed and parents had just seen their children off to various institutions." I'm delighted CETAG has been asked, so let's hope they do the right thing and we can all live in peace."
"The National Labour Commission is a state organization," he continued. There must be someone to mediate if labor institutions are suing each other. This is the legally required institution, and they have listened to us and issued a directive. UTAG's striker should also be called off, in my opinion."
UTAG began its action on Monday, January 10.
This was due to the government's inability to resolve their problems.
"We must also point out the fact that, in general, our members have decried the pittance agreed to be paid as annual research allowance and would like to have government reconsider the payment of a more realistic research allowance as this is critical to our research output, promotion, and ultimately national development," they said in a statement released on Saturday, January 8.
"For the reasons stated above, the UTAG NEC reiterated its resolve at its meeting on January 7, 2022 to carry out the decision to suspend teaching and related activities until further notice, with effect from Monday, January 10, 2022, and call on all UTAG members across the fifteen (15) branches to comply with this directive."
“As a matter of urgency, we also call on the Employer to restore members to the 2013 IMP of 114% of Basic Salary in the interim whilst Government goes ahead to formulate guidelines to implement the appropriate recommendations to address the CoS of the University Teacher. Following the uneasiness among UTAG members, any delay by the Employer would further exacerbate the already fragile academic calendar to the detriment of all stakeholders.”
The statement further said that “It may be recalled that the Interim Market Premium (IMP) which was instituted following the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy got frozen, per a Government White Paper, in 2013, for the purpose of the conduct of a LMS to determine a MP payable to workers deserving of it. To date, this determination has not been made, which has resulted in the erosion of the University Teacher’s salary.
"It may be recalled that the Interim Market Premium (IMP), which was instituted following the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy, was frozen in 2013, per a Government White Paper, for the purpose of conducting an LMS to determine an MP payable to workers deserving of it," the statement continued. This determination has yet to be made, resulting in a decrease in the salary of University Teachers
"It was hoped that by completing and implementing the 2019 Labour Market Survey (LMS) Report, a review of the IMP would have put the University Teacher in a pretty excellent compensation position."
Regrettably, without a technical report on the implementable MP, the recommendations of the 2019 LMS Report are meaningless to UTAG because they do not address the important issues of better Condition of Service (CoS).
"However, there was an LMS in 2014 whose Report did not see the light of day, and one wonders if the 2019 LMS Report, which is already two years old, will ever be adopted." Furthermore, recommendation (iii) of the 2019 LMS Report states that "the Public Services Commission should work with educational institutions to prioritize the offering of courses in high-demand areas to improve the employment prospects of their graduates and expand the pool of applicants for high-demand vacancies."
"How can such a National Agenda be achieved if the University Teacher's CoS continues to deteriorate year after year, resulting in an ever-increasing attrition rate on our campuses?" The timing of the report's release, according to UTAG members, is "one of the Employer's customary delay tactics over the years, which is unacceptable."
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