UTAG declines invitation to meet NLC

A letter addressed to the NLC on behalf of UTAG and cited by Asaase radio says the acceptable approach in the current circumstances is for UTAG to meet government to iron out their differences

The University Teachers Association of Ghana(UTAG) has declined an invitation to meet with the National Labour Commission(NLC) on Monday 7 February.

A letter addressed to the NLC on behalf of UTAG and cited by Asaase radio says the acceptable approach in the current circumstances is for UTAG to meetgovernment to iron out their differences.

“Our client, the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) are in receipt of your letter dated 3 February 2022, captioned as above and referred to same to us to respond on it.

“As much as we are grateful for the invitation to your proposed tripartite meeting, we honestly believe the more acceptable approach in the present circumstances is for our client to meet with government side of the impasse to try to iron out their remaining differences. We will then report back to the National Labour Commission (NLC) on the meeting outcome.”

“For this reason, our client respectfully declines to honour your invitation to the meeting on Monday 7, February 2022,” the letter said.

Teaching cannot be done by compulsion

Professor Ransford Gyampo, the general secretary of the University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has said that teachers cannot be coerced to return to the classrooms to teach.

His comments come after the National Labour Commission sued the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) over its nationwide strike.

The NLC is imploring the court to secure an interlocutory injunction to compel the lecturers to return to work.

It said the suit is to also force UTAG to call off its strike in compliance with its 13 January directive.

However, speaking to Beatrice Adu on the Big Bulletin on Tuesday (February 1), Gyampo said “is teaching done by compulsion? Can teaching be done by duress? Will an order asking us to go back to the lecture hall necessarily translate into improvement in conditions of service?

“Can you compel an angry and hungry teacher who is on strike fighting for better conditions of service, can you force that teacher back to the classroom to teach? Is teaching not a selfless act? Is teaching not based on conviction and one’s own philosophy?”