The Labour Division of the Accra High Court has put an injunction on the strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), as lecturers in Nigeria and the United Kingdom have recently embarked on similar industrial actions.
The court, presided over by Justice Frank Aboadwe Rockson, on Tuesday afternoon [February 15, 2022] halted the strike which is currently in its fifth week. The order followed an application for interlocutory injunction by the National Labour Commission (NLC).
By the order of the court, UTAG must suspend its strike until the final determination of an application by the NLC seeking to enforce its directives for UTAG to call off its strike and return to the negotiation table with the government.
The court noted that the ongoing negotiations between the parties may not yield any result if the industrial action continues. The Court had asked both parties to try an out-of-court settlement on two occasions.
The NLC sued UTAG, urging the Court to declare the strike illegal. The case has been adjourned to February 22, 2022, at 1:30 pm.
Students have been left stranded on various campuses of public universities as there appears to be no end in sight for the industrial action by their lecturers.
But on both occasions, UTAG said they have not received any concrete offer from government yet, thus causing all engagements to end inconclusively.
UTAG wants government to restore their 2012 conditions of service, which pegged the monthly income of entry-level lecturers at $2,084. The lecturers have complained that the current arrangement has reduced their basic premiums to $997.84.
In a related matter, the president of Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced a one-month strike with immediate effect on 14th February. The lecturers have grievances over pay and state funding of universities, amongst others.
The strike will be “comprehensive and total” Emmanuel Osodeke said in a press conference. “We don’t like to see our students at home. We don’t want our academic calendars disrupted but our demands are not met,” Mr Osodeke is quoted as saying in the local media.
Also, thousands of UK university staff have gone on strike in a new wave of industrial action over pensions, pay and working conditions, claiming they have overwhelming support from students. The University and College Union (UCU), which represents university workers, said huge numbers of UCU members had joined picket lines on Monday, where they were supported with musical accompaniment, DIY banners and chants.
By contrast, university employers said there were low levels of industrial action by what it called a minority of UCU members that apparently had little impact on students, in the latest stage of a long-running and increasingly acrimonious dispute.
The strike is the first of 10 days of action spread over three weeks. This week it involves 44 universities, including Cambridge, Leeds and Edinburgh, and focuses on pension cuts. Next week strike action will involve 68 universities when 50,000 staff are expected to walk out over pensions, pay and working conditions, affecting about a million students.
The UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, who joined the picket line at the University of Strathclyde, said staff were taking action to prevent a 35% cut to their guaranteed retirement income. “The response from students has been overwhelming and I want to thank every single one of them for standing with us,” she said.
“These strikes over pension cuts were totally avoidable, but university employers have so far failed to accept compromise proposals put forward by UCU, which would have protected pensions and avoided disruptive industrial action.
“Vice-chancellors should not doubt the resolve of our members who are determined to stick this out and win what they deserve.”
Source: Graphiconline, Myjoyonline & theguardian.com
