UTAG Strike: Parliament’s Education Committee to meet UTAG February 17

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Education will today, Thursday, February 17, 2022, meet the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) over their industrial action.

The meeting will provide an opportunity for the Committee to meet the leadership of UTAG to discuss ways to have their grievances resolved.

Dr. Samuel Nkumbaan, President of University of Ghana (UG) Chapter of UTAG, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on their reaction to an order from the Labour Division of the Accra High Court on Tuesday, February 15 to call of their strike.

Dr Nkumbaan, reacting to the Court order, said they were yet to get the certified copy from the pronouncement of the Judge detailing what was required of them to do and not to do.

“As it stands now, we are at where we are and once we get served with the certified order, we will engage with our legal team to make a decision moving forward,” he added.

Dr Nkumbaan explained that the substantive matter on whether their strike was legal or not had not been heard, therefore, he and his colleagues cannot resume their official duties.

The Labour Division of the Accra High Court Tuesday placed an injunction on the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG)’s four-week strike.

This meant that the association’s members would have to return to the classroom to commence teaching while the substantive issue before the court was heard.

The court presided over by Mr Justice Frank Abodwe granted the injunction based on Article 296 of the 1992, saying negotiations cannot go well if the respondent (UTAG) fails to call off its strike.

It slated February 22 to hear the substantive issue before it.

The substantive issue borders on the enforcement of the National Labour Commission’s (NLC) decision on UTAG.

The NLC had dragged UTAG to court following the association’s refusal to comply with the directive to call off its strike.

The commission had filed two applications before the court.

The first is a motion for the enforcement of the directives issued by the NLC on January 13, this year, for UTAG to return to the lecture hall, so teaching could commence.

The second one was the interlocutory to restrain UTAG from continuing with their strike.

UTAG on Monday January 10, this year, embarked on industrial action over “worsening “condition of service.

The NLC after hearing the case on Thursday, January 13, this year ruled that the strike be called off because it was illegal and did not follow the due process.

UTAG, however, continued the industrial action despite the NLC’s directive to call it off.

The GNA, in a visit to the University of Ghana campus to confirm whether UTAG members had complied with the Court order observed that there were no lecturers in the classrooms.

Some of the students who spoke to the GNA said they were expecting their lecturers to return to the classrooms soon following the order.