President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Legon, Dr. Samuel Nkumbaan has stated that the National Labour Commission (NLC) after dragging them to court cannot act as the mediator between them and government.
Speaking to Accra based Joy News, he stated that, upon the advice of the court the NLC sent the association a letter to meet and reach a resolution. According to him, upon a second thought came to the conclusion that NLC is not fit to mediate their issues. He indicated that the NLC has no right to order them.
“We were of the opinion that, we could not possibly be in the court with the NLC and be ordered to appear before it. In actual fact, the letter did not have an agenda item and so for us the best to have done was to write to the commission and let them know that the meeting wasn’t the best forum for us.” Dr. Nkumbaan added that it was government that can resolve their issues not the NLC. He indicated that the absence of a representative from government in the proposed meeting with the NLC is the reason for their boycott.
However, Dr. Nkumbaan stressed that the association has received an invitation from the Minister of Education through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and its stakeholders to meet on February 8, 2022 at 3PM.
UTAG is in its fifth week of the strike action since February 10 after government according to them failed to meet their demands per timelines agreed upon by both parties. Prior to this strike, UTAG embarked on strike action in September 2021.
Story by: Vanessa Calys-Tagoe
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