Academic activities at the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in the Upper East Region have come to a standstill following a nationwide strike declared by members of the Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG).
Despite the directive by the National Labour Commission (NLC) a few days ago, urging the Association to suspend its intended strike action, the Association still went ahead and declared it.
When the Ghana News Agency visited the Bolgatanga Technical University at its main campus at Sumbrungu, a community in the Bolgatanga Municipality, it observed that there was no academic activity going.
In an interview with Mr Oswald Atiga, the Chairman of TUTAG, Bolgatanga Technical University chapter, he said the strike action was as a result of continuous neglect by government to address the condition of service of members of the Association.
According to Mr Atiga, since the conversion of the eight polytechnics in 2018 and the recent conversion of Bolgatanga and Wa Polytechnics into Technical Universities, members of the Association still worked under the polytechnic structure of condition of service.
He described the situation as unfair and said the Association on numerous occasions engaged government to address the issues but all efforts proved futile.
“Since 2018, they have been operating under the Polytechnic condition of service which is not fair and you know in Ghana you have to go through offices and we have done that for the past two years, so what you are seeing today is a culmination of unfulfilled outcomes of several meetings,” he said.
The Chairman noted that although academic work would be adversely affected especially when the strike action prolongs, it was also imperative for the government to address their concerns.
Responding to the directive by the National Labour Commission to call off the strike, Mr Atiga explained that the Association had followed all the laid down procedures of the Labour Act 651 in embarking on the strike action including; the seven-day notification.
“The National Labour Commission knows that it does not have the moral right to call off the strike because we wrote a letter, at the national level, to Labour Commission two weeks ago and copied to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education, giving them 14 days’ notice and not even seven days, but they chose not to acknowledge receipt of that letter,” Instead, he stated, the National Labour commission relied on an unsigned leaked letter that was issued by the National President of TUTAG to members last week.
Mr Atiga noted that the Association would hold a meeting in Accra on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, and challenge or prove their case to the National Labour Commission with authentic documents.
