Members of the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) plan to go on strike if conclusion of negotiation on the new condition service is not done before the beginning of university admission next year.
In a statement jointly signed by the National Chairman of TEWU, Ambrose Yao Kwadwodza and General Secretary, Mark Dankyira Korankye, the union served a “notice of intention of withdrawal of service.”
According to the statement, the union has noted with concerns the inability of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to conclude negotiations with the union and the frustrations members of the public universities are going through, following TEWU’s engagement with the Commission in June 2019 on the review of the conditions of service.
The unionized staff of the public universities said the condition of service expired as far back as 2008, and intimated that “it is regrettable that for close to two years, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has not been able to finalize issues with TEWU on the condition of service, while our members continue to work, under very difficult situation.”
The union holds the view that the inability of the Commission to conclude negotiations on the conditions of service is “unfair and in bad faith.”
“Our Universities are expected to reopen, in January 2021, and our members will still be delivering their services and yet they will be working under a condition of service which has not been reviewed for close to 12 years,” TEWU noted.
The statement pointed out that the union’s position was that “failure on the part of Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to give priority attention to immediately conclude negotiation on the new condition of service” would compel its members to advise themselves accordingly.
The union said the beginning of the new academic year in January 2021 would obviously come with added responsibility with the intake of the first batch of graduates of the Free Senior High School.
By Ernest Kofi Adu