Executive Secretary for National Labour Commission, Ofosu Asamoah
The Executive Secretary for National Labour Commission (NLC), Mr Ofosu Asamoah says the core mandate of the National Labour Commission (NLC) is to settle disputes and iron out issues between employers and employees in the country.
Mr Asamoah, a former MP for Kade, said the NLC does not exist to work in the interest of the Government alone, discounting claims they are biased towards labour unions.
Speaking on Tonton San San on TV XYZ about the ongoing nationwide strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana UTAG, Mr Asamoah said the NLC has the interest of both parties-the teachers and the government.
The Association on Monday, August 2,2021 began a nationwide strike over what they described as the government’s refusal to heed to their calls to improve the conditions of service of university teachers.
The NLC on Friday secured an injunction from the Accra High Court to compel UTAG to call off the industrial action.
However, the Executive Secretary of the NLC said that the commission’s priority is to look into any issue relating to labour unions for peace and tranquility to prevail.
“People assume NLC is always on the side of the government. Government and other employers feel same too. They think we are always for the labour unions,” he told host Kwame Minkah.
Mr Asamoah also emphasized that the issues the commission deals with are mostly in relation to the breach of the collective agreement of employees and employers, urging UTAG to go back to the class as the Court ordered.
“The Senior Staff Association of the universities joined our meeting and called off the strike. The lecturers association then called that they couldn’t come but insisted we allow them to come with their own choice of the number of representatives to be present at the meeting and we agreed,” he disclosed.
He continued, “the law makes it clear that per section 161 of Act 651, no one should go on strike while negotiations and arbitration are still ongoing.”
UTAG’s Response
Meanwhile, the leadership of UTAG says it has begun consultations with its legal team to enable it to respond appropriately to an injunction secured by the NLC against their strike.
The National Secretary of UTAG, Dr. Eric Abavara in a Citi News interview said the association will respond accordingly.
He said even though they haven’t been served yet, they have seen the injunction in the media, and have tasked their lawyers to respond appropriately.
“We have seen the ex-parte motion on social media, and we have consulted our lawyers on same, and they will be working on it accordingly. The emergency meetings were held before the release of the motion, but our lawyers are studying it and will respond appropriately.”