Mark Dankyira Korankye, General Secretary of TEWU
The Teachers’ and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) has appealed to the government to respond promptly to its concerns over the poor conditions of service of its members in public universities.
That, the Union said, would help avoid any further disruption in academic work on campuses on the various public universities.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, the General Secretary of TEWU, Mark Dankyira Korankye, said the government had failed to implement the recommendation of the Technical Committee set up to look into the demands of the Union and make recommendations to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations.
He said if by September 7, 2021, the government did not respond to the concerns of the Union, its members would have no option other than to embark on industrial actions.
Mr Korankye said following the industrial action of TEWU in January, the Labour Commission asked the TEWU and the government to “go back and re-enter negotiations.”
“On the advice of the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, a Technical Committee was set up to look at various options and make recommendations to the Minister on the way forward on this matter,” he said.
He said the Technical Committee proposed ten and 15 per cent increase in the non-basic and exposure to eminent hazard allowances against the ten per cent offered by the Chief of Staff when TEWU embarked on industrial action on January, 2021.
The General Secretary of TEWU said after going through series of meetings, the government team continued to maintain their stance of offering 8 per cent which was earlier offered by the Chief of Staff in January 2021, adding that “We find this posture of the government team very unwelcoming and not in sync with the tenet of negotiation.”
“It is sad to note that it appears from all indications that government’s side is unwilling to increase the 8 per cent earlier offered by the Chief of Staff. This has actually dashed our hopes and for those of us who served on the Technical Committee, we feel let down. It suggests to us that the work of the Technical Committee was an exercise in futility”.
“Our members are not satisfied with the 8 per cent and, therefore, we have been going back and forth seeking to have this matter resolved and get a better deal for our members,” Korankye said.
“We have come to this point where we want to send a strong signal to the government team and all the agencies that are involved in this negotiation that TEWU feels very much betrayed and frustrated in this process, since the negotiation of the conditions of service started and has travelled for over two years. This is just not right, giving the fact that the labour law is very much explicit that negotiation should, in the worst-case scenario, travel not more than three months,” he said.
The National Chairman of TEWU, Ambrose Kwadzodza entreated the government to address the concerns of the members of TEWU to create a peaceful industrial atmosphere.