UTAG Strike: Labour Consultant calls for a third-party mediator

Accra, – Mr Austin Garmey, a Labour Consultant has called for a third-party mediator to resolve the standoff between the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the National Labour Commission (NLC) over the conditions of service of members of UTAG.

Mr Garmey in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he said it was appropriate for UTAG and Government to invite a third party to guide them to negotiate according to the law and find solutions to the issues.

“Government and UTAG must introduce a high level of humility and engage in discussions based on the rules of negotiation procedures as espoused in section 102 of Labour Act,” he said.

He said the disagreement between UTAG and NLC was a great concern for the country, saying “if a body like the NLC’s directives has been ignored by the UTAG, then it is a serious issue.”

The Labour Consultant expressed concern about the way striking institutions were losing confidence in the NLC and urged the Commission to redeem its image and bring back the trust for industrial harmony.

Mr Garmey asked the Commission to always use ‘common’ language, devoid of an imposition of directives on striking institutions for mutual understanding.

He described the labour unrest in the country as worrying and called for sober heads to dialogue for amicable resolutions of the issues.

Mr Garmey blamed the recent labour agitations on the lack of communication from the Government, stating that the labour law mandated the Government to always keep the communication channels with the unions active but that appeared to have failed leading to the industrial actions.

The 15 branches of UTAG in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency decided to continue with their industrial action despite a directive from the NLC to call it off.

The branches made the resolution after separate meetings on the directive.

UTAG on Monday, January 10, 2022, embarked on industrial action over their “worsening” conditions of service.

The Commission after hearing their case on Thursday, January 13, 2022, ruled that the strike be called off because it was illegal and did not follow due process.

Source: Ghana News Agency