The Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG), has suspended its strike, following an assurance from the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, to resolve concerns of the group.
The association said it had decided to end the industrial action due to favourable responses it had received from the government and the National Labour Commission (NLC).
TUTAG in a statement signed by its national president, Dr Michael Brigandi,
said “after listening to the Minister of Education, we observed that there are still individuals in political positions that citizens can trust. From observations of his verbal and non-verbal communication, we can see the natural sincerity that is oozing from both this verbal and non-verbal communication.”
It said the association’s encounter with Dr Adutwum was the beginning of the shift of TUTAG from mistrusts to mutual trust, hence the decision to reconsider its position.
The association said though the strike has been declared legal and “TUTAG could have decided to remain on strike till all our issues were resolved, we wish to inform the Minister of Education that our decision to suspend with immediate effect the strike action was based on trust and confidence in his assurance”.
The statement said TUTAG had received a letter from Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to begin negotiation on June, 29, 2021, explaining why the association appreciated the effort of the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, FWSC and others involved in negotiations to settle the matter.
TUTAG began a nationwide strike action, on Monday, June 14, 2012, despite an order from the NLC to suspend the protest.
The industrial action followed unsuccessful efforts to get their employers to address their poor conditions of service as well as the frustrations the technical universities go through in attaining accreditation for academic programmes.
The association demanded the payment of 2018/2019 research arrears, negotiation of conditions of service of members, Tier-2 Pension payment and accreditation of technical university’s programmes and scheme of services.
Stranded students of Technical Universities across the country have expressed disappointment over the strike action by TUTAG.
The worried students complained that they were bearing the brunt of the industrial action, arguing that it would worsen their already disrupted academic activities.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN
