The Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghanan (TUTAG) has suspended the nationwide strike action declared on Friday, June 11.
According to a statement announcing the suspension of the strike, the sincerity of the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, played an important role and the decision has since been well received by the general membership of TUTAG.
“We have met politicians who promised to take us to heaven alive, and we believed them and went back to sleep, only to wake up and find ourselves in the same pool of academic and financial injustices.
“But after listening to the Education Minister, we observed that there are still individuals in political positions that citizens can trust.
“From our observations of his verbal and nonverbal communication, we could see the natural sincerity that was oozing from both his verbal and nonverbal communication.
“Our encounter with Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum was the beginning of the shift of TUTAG from mistrust to mutual trust, hence the decision to reconsider our position.”
The National Labour Commission (NLC) had ruled on the strike, declaring it as legal and so gave the two parties 60 days within which to resolve the impasse.
TUTAG is demanding a better condition of service, payment of Tier-2 pension, settlement of research arrears, accreditation of technical universities programmes and bettering members’ scheme of service (SOS).
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has also pledged commitment while the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations has also taken steps to resolve the grievances.
TUTAG, therefore, paid tribute to a Deputy Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Bright Wereko-Brobbey, and the Chief Executive Officer of FWSC, Dr Edward Kwapong.
“Having received positive responses from the general membership of the Union, based on assurances of the duty bearers, Congress has decided that the ongoing strike has been suspended.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana