You don’t strike when there is negotiation, it puts pressure on the other party – NLC to UTAG

The Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission (NLC), Mr Ofosu Asamoah, has welcomed the court order compelling the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) to call off their strike.

The Labour Division of the Accra High Court on Tuesday, February 15 granted an interlocutory injunction application filed against the strike by the UTAG by the NLC.

Speaking to journalists after court proceedings on Tuesday, February 15, lawyer for the UTAG Kwesi Keli-Deletaa said: “The motion was seeking to enforce the directive of the [National] Labour Commission, which was filed before the injunction application was filed.

“In our view, the main motion which is seeking to enforce the directive of the NLC should have been heard first but the judge thought otherwise and decided that the injunction application should be heard first and the outcome of that application is what you all witnessed in court today, the judge decided to grant the interlocutory injunction application.”

Also speaking to journalists after the court ruling, Mr Ofosu Asamoah said “When there is strike during negotiation it brings undue influence on the other party as well.

“Yes they have been on strike for a long time, we all have known that … I think the court has taken notice that it is enough time to press home their demand.”

The NLC had ruled that the strike by UTAG, embarked upon on Monday, January 10, was illegal.

This was after a meeting with the labour unions and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations held on Thursday, January 13.

After the meeting, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Bright Wireku Brobbey told journalists that the government was expecting that the unions did the needful.

“In the spirit of transparency and very mutual respect for them, they have assured them that whatever allowance is due them because they were captured in the 2022 budget [by] January they are going to be paid,” he had said on that day.

“Therefore, the Commission has directed that they go and call off the strike immediately.”

But UTAG failed to call off the strike, a situation that forced the NLC to go to court to enforce its order.

The court earlier asked the two parties to settle the issue out of its jurisdiction but that did not happen until Tuesday when the injunction application by NLC was granted.

Source: 3news