UTAG can begin new strike if majority of campuses vote to reject NEC’s decision – National President

The National President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Professor Solomon Nunoo has disclosed that the association can embark on another industrial action if a majority of its member branches vote to reject their leadership’s decision to temporarily suspend their initial strike.

The leadership of UTAG, on Monday, February 21, 2022, decided to suspend their industrial action and return to the negotiation table with the government to demand better conditions of service.

Members of UTAG, per their constitution, were given five days to vote to accept or reject this decision.

Speaking on JoyNews on Saturday, February 26, 2022, Professor Solomon Nunoo however stated a new date for the strike may be communicated by the National Executive Committee if more campuses vote to reject their decision.

“It’s a simple majority so we’d have to decide on the date for the next strike action. In that case, the National Executive Committee needs to have an extraordinary meeting to decide on the next date for the strike action to be continued. That is accurate, but that doesn’t stop us from starting a new strike.” He mentioned.

The President further stated that whether a campus has voted for or against the suspension of the strike, all members would have to go back to the classroom as stated by their constitution.

“Per our UTAG constitution, once a strike has been suspended, we have to go back to the classroom and go back to teaching. Whether a campus has voted against the suspension or for the suspension, all of us will go back to the classroom to lecture.

"At the end of the referendum, we’d collate the results. After the collation, the next step is that if the majority of the members say we need to continue with the strike, then an extraordinary meeting of the National Executive Committee will have to be constituted to determine the date for the next strike action,” he added.

Prof. Nunoo added that UTAG would begin its industrial action should their negotiation with the government not go as planned after the two-week ultimatum which ends on March 4, 2022.

“I must state that the suspension became necessary for us to go back to the table and negotiate so we gave ourselves up to next week Friday to get these whole processes done. If the negotiations go as planned then there wouldn’t be the need but otherwise, in that case, would have already armed the National Executive Committee to continue with the strike action,” he emphasized.