TEWU-GH Not Recognised By GTEC – Says TEWU -TUC

The Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana has addressed ongoing controversy surrounding the union’s representation on the governing councils of public universities in the  country.

Addressing the issue at a press conference in Accra, General Secretary of TEWU of TUC, King James Azortibah, said the group that has been protesting is a breakaway group that is not recognised by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).

“About three years ago, some colleagues who were in fact, executives of our Union (TEWU of TUC) decided to break away.  The reasons being that they had served their two, four-year terms of tenure (in total, eight years) but still wanted to hold on as local executives, even though the TEWU Constitution frowns against such acts,” he said.

Mr.  Azortibah further noted that in order to continue to hold on to power, they decided to leave TEWU of TUC (GH) to form a new workers’ association with the name Tertiary Education Workers Union Ghana (TEWU-GH).

“Surprisingly, they continued to use our acronym TEWU to deceive the public that their newly formed association was the same as our Union TEWU. While respecting their right to freedom of association, we have been dealing with subsequent challenges, including their inability to account for their stewardship, attempts to assume TEWU’s assets, disruption of council meetings, and coercing members to join strikes,” he explained.

He reiterated that TEWU of TUC remains the legitimate representative union for specific staff categories in public universities, as stipulated in the Public Universities Act and Statute.

“TEWU of TUC (GH) remain the legitimate council representatives,” he insisted.

The union thus called on GTEC to remain objective and neutral in the matter, advising university managements to instil discipline among staff and adhere to the rule of law.

TEWU of TUC also condemned the actions of some university management officials who seem to be supporting the breakaway group.

“We urge Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to remain objective and neutral in this matter.  We do not intend to make anyone unpopular, but it is important for our stakeholders, especially the Director General of GTEC, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, to respect the rule of law and remain neutral in this matter.  As a regulator, we expect GTEC to advise the university management to instill discipline in the staff who take the law into their hands to misbehave and embark on unnecessary and illegal strikes,” he added.