The Labour Court division of Ghana has instructed University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) to pay an amount of GH¢3,000 for refusing to show up at court.
An amount of GH¢3,000 had been awarded against UTAG by The Labour Court 1 Division of the High Court on Monday, 16th August 2021 for refusing to show up at court. The National Labour Commission had wanted to intervene the on going UTAG industry strike but to no avail.
The Labour Court sat on Monday, 16th August 2021 to hear an injunction leveled against the teacher union by the National Labour Commission over the current strike action. Due to UTAG’s inability to complete its processes the hearing could not proceed. The lawyers of the University Teachers Association (UTAG) told the Court that due to the urgent situation at hand is rather unfortunate that they can not honour the court proceedings.
The Court, however, not impressed with the situation, slapped UTAG with the Gh₵3,000 cost. The case has since been adjourned to Thursday, August 19, 2021.
The Labour Commission secured an interlocutory injunction from the court on 6th August 2021 to compel UTAG to suspend their strike, however UTAG refused to comply with the orders, indicating that the premise is false.
The 2012 Single Spine package put entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2,084 while the current level puts lecturers’ salaries around $900.
UTAG members have been on strike since Monday 2nd August because they want the government to restore the 2012 conditions of service, which they believe was far better than the current situation.
The NLC is of the view that, it is illegal for UTAG to remain on strike while on negotiations table with the government but UTAG insists that there is no active negotiation between them and the government currently.