The ongoing impasse between the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the Government of Ghana is another stark reminder of one of the many things that we in Ghana have become all too familiar with, namely, the use of strike actions by various labour unions to drum home their demands for better conditions of service from Governments.
One justification often given for strike actions by labour unions in Ghana over the years is that strike actions are the most effective ways to get labour demands satisfied, the language the Government understands most.
Consequently, strike actions have become a part and parcel of the labour union language in Ghana, a useful bargaining chip in their dealings with Government and or its agencies.
As a result of this, we have all inevitably come to see industrial actions as normal occurrences in Ghana and thereby failed to consider the cost that such actions have had and continue to have on Ghana’s international image, development and productivity.
The Current Government-UTAG Impasse
In specific reference to the ongoing Government of Ghana and UTAG impasse for which reason Ghana’s public university lecturers are currently on strike, what we know so far is that the leadership of UTAG is requesting that Government meets their demands for better conditions of service for members which demands have been pending since 2012 after many failed negotiations.
We also learn that UTAG notified the National Labour Commission (NLC) of its intention to strike for about a month without receiving any feedback from the latter and that as UTAG leadership felt that they were not making any headway in their negotiations with Government and subsequently commenced strike action, the NLC went to court to seek a court order to injunct them which the court did.
As of today, this case is still and court and we have a stalemate, namely that while UTAG wants the NLC to withdraw the court order as a condition to resume negotiations with Government, the NLC on the other hand wants UTAG to call off their strike action first before the negotiations can be resumed.
Clearly, the battle lines have been drawn, and nobody knows how and when this latest impasse is going to end. But the real prospects are that our public universities may shut down completely if no headway is made in resolving this matter in the coming days and weeks.
In course of last few days, Prof. Ransford E. Gyampo, the current Secretary of UTAG, University of Ghana Chapter, has spoken extensively on this impasse on several media platforms, arguing among others that UTAG believes that now is the most opportune time to get Government to finally fulfill their demands and that they have resolved not to back down until these demands are fully met.
According to him, UTAG members will continue to remain resolute on their stance and that the Government can decide to sack all the lecturers and take their salaries, they will still not return to the classrooms. In various other interviews, Prof. Gyampo has further insisted that since lecturers do not eat meetings and negotiations, the Government should do the needful by meeting their demands, else their strike action will continue unabated.
According to him, he has personally reached out to the President to request him to intervene in this ongoing impasse because “the buck stops with him”. In another interview on Accra-based Joy FM last week, Prof. Gyampo stated among others that their strike action will not result in the death of students unlike what happens when doctors and nurses embark on strikes and that the academic calendar can always be adjusted for students to carry out their studies and complete their courses.
Therefore, all university students should exercise patience and wait for them “small” until they are able to return to the classrooms. I have decided against passing any comments on these above remarks of Prof. Gyampo on the impasse and rather to allow the good people of Ghana to pass their own judgments on them.
My Take on the Ongoing Impasse
As far as the Constitution of Ghana and the laws governing Government and labour relations go, I think that it is well within the rights of UTAG members to embark on the strike action which they have done. Therefore, nobody can or should begrudge them for taking that decision.
Besides, some of these strike actions in the past have yielded dividends and there is every prospect that they can do the same now. In much the same way, I think that it is also within the rights of the institutions that have been set up to deal with issues of this nature, including the NLC and the courts, to do their work as mandated by the Constitution.
Therefore, I argue that UTAG must allow these institutions also to do their work and not seek to discredit or lampoon them.
Furthermore, I think that on this particular impasse, most Ghanaians will sympathise with the cause of UTAG than the Government at least for two reasons. One, quite apart from the fact that the salaries of UTAG members are nothing to write home about vis-à-vis the amount of work they put in into teaching the future leaders of Ghana, their demands for better conditions of service have also been pending for almost a decade now according to them.
This being the case, I think as am sure many Ghanaians do, that they have every justification to demand that their conditions of service be looked at again.
Two, in our country where Article 71 holders always get their salaries and other conditions of service adjusted upwards all the time and where despite glaring mismanagement in the midst of COVID-19 challenges, a whopping 79 percent adjustment increase has been added to top government official’s salaries and loans being advanced to MPs to buy new cars and so on, I do not think that there is any justification whatsoever for the Government to refuse to heed the cry of UTAG on their demands, not least after they have been crying for all these years.
Be it as it may, I contend that as the Government and UTAG impasse continues to rage on, the real victims who are suffering the most and in silence are the students and their parents and guardians.
The good old adage that says, “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” This goes true for all these students and their parents and guardians who have become the real silent and forgotten victims in this impasse as their interests are being sacrificed on the altar of political and academic expediency by both our Government and UTAG.
Having struggled to pay their fees and offered themselves for teaching and learning, the least our students can expect from their universities is an academic environment conducive for learning on the various university campuses so that lecturers can teach them and they can study without needless interruptions to finish their courses on time and graduate either to further their studies or look for employment opportunities.
But here they are, faced once again with anxiety, uncertainty and frustration associated with these strike actions without any knowledge of what the future has in store for them since their fate is not in their own hands again but in those of the powers that be. Their situation is sad and frustrating, but unfortunately, that is the reality.
On the Way Forward
In the efforts to help resolve the current impasse, I would like to make two proposals here. One, it is important for all stakeholders in the ongoing impasse, namely, UTAG members and executive, the National Labour Commission and the negotiating team of Government, to understand that their actions and utterances carry considerable weight and can either help resolve the issue at stake or adversely derail the processes aimed at resolving the impasse.
Therefore, I think that as much as practicable, all persons who speak for these interested parties and bodies should learn to separate their own personal opinions from those of the groups they represent in addressing issues related to this impasse. I think that this will help facilitate a speedier resolution of the impasse.
Two, to ensure that the current impasse does not drag on more than it has already so that the academic calendars of our public universities will not continue to suffer from this unfortunate situation, I also believe that the time has come for the voices of reason and moral conscience in our country to begin to intervene.
Here, I am thinking of such bodies as the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the National Chief Imam, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, the National Peace Council and the Council of State to intervene.
I think that the time is up for them to do what they can to help ensure that things return to normalcy as soon as possible. This can help prevent a possible repeat of what happened some years back when UTAG went on strike for close to a year during ex-President John Jerry Rawlings’ time. “A stich in time,” they say, “saves nine.”
Conclusion
In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I think that no one should underestimate the pain, distress and frustrations that most people are going through and the efforts people are making to put their lives back together. This also goes also for our students and their parents.
It will thus be sad and unfortunate if this strike action also adds to the anxiety and distress that our students and parents, like everybody else, are already going through.
Therefore, I pray that as soon as practicable, negotiations and dialogue should resume in which the Government and UTAG and all the other stakeholders involved will consider not only their own interests but also those of our students and Ghana as a whole.
While hoping that both the Government and UTAG will do everything humanly possible to try and resolve this impasse without any further delay, I am also praying that in this and other important issues of national concern, the interest of Ghana will always reign supreme.
May God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation greater and stronger.
