TUTAG declares strike over delays in payment of new rate fuel allowance

TUTAG declares strike over delays in payment of new rate fuel allowance

Due to the delays in the payment of the increased rate of fuel allowance, the members of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) have launched an indefinite strike.

TUTAG made the announcement in a statement dated November 18, 2022, that was jointly signed by Dr. Abubakari Zakari, the general secretary, and the national president, Prof. Dr. Ing Collins Ameyaw.

“We hereby make reference to our letter dated September 26, 2022, addressed to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and bearing reference number TUTAG/GTEC/02, with copies to the Ministers of Education and Finance, the Chairman of the National Labour Commission (NLC), and the Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.

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The statement read, “We wish to state that issues raised in the aforementioned letter have since not received any attention from the aforementioned government agencies.”

TUTAG claims that the issues raised in the aforementioned letter have not been given the serious consideration they require, leading to the decision to suspend operations immediately.

The whole statement is as follows:

INDEFINITE STRIKE ACTION ANNOUNCEMENT

We refer to our letter on the subject “NEW RATE OF FUEL ALLOWANCE FOR MEMBERS OF UTAG AND TUTAG” with reference number TUTAG/GTEC/02, dated 26th September 2022, addressed to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and copied to the Minister of Education, Minister of Finance, Chairman of the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.

We wish to state that issues raised in the above letter have since not received any attention from the aforementioned government agencies.

TUTAG views the inaction by these agencies as an indication that the concerns expressed in our letter have not been treated with the seriousness they deserve.

We also refer to the NLC’s directive of 2nd September 2022 under the subject “RE: IN THE MATTER OF NOTIFICATION OF INTENDED STRIKE ACTION BY TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION OF GHANA (TUTAG)” with reference number NLC/TUTAG/2022/21 which was about TUTAG’s demand for the implementation of the negotiated internally generated fund related conditions of service.

The directive reads: “That the Minister of Finance (MOF) is hereby directed to ensure payment in January 2023 and should also ensure that it issues the necessary letters to the various University Councils within reasonable time to make budgetary provisions in the budget to take care of payments on the effective date. Even though January 2023 is less than two months away, and most universities are done with budget preparations for 2023, the Minister of Finance has still not issued the letter as directed by the NLC.

It is important to state that a certain letter (electronic version), supposedly written by the FWSC, was shown to the President at NLC, the content of the said letter was in sharp contrast with the negotiations done with the Governing Councils of the various universities.

Indeed, our checks from the listed recipients indicate that the said defective letter had not even been received.

Further, reference is made to issues raised in our letter under the subject “NOTIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION” with reference number TUTAG/NLC/02, dated 10th October 2022, some of which have still not been resolved by the government agencies.

In view of all these, and upon further deliberations by the National and Chapter Executives of TUTAG, we declare an indefinite strike action which takes immediate effect