TEWU suspends nationwide strike

Following talks with the National Labor Commission, GTEC, and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH) decided to call off its two-week strike.

Due to unfulfilled demands for payment of their vehicle maintenance allowances and other terms of service, the Union suspended operations on February 1.

The government and the Union had a back and forth, but yesterday they met with stakeholders and came to an agreement.

On February 9, talks with the government were held, but TEWU-GH continued its industrial action.

But on February 14, the union’s position took a major turn after a crucial meeting with the National Labour Commission (NLC) and government officials.

At an emergency meeting held in Accra on February 15, the union’s national executive council made a unanimous decision to heed the NLC’s order and call off the strike.

“The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH) had an emergency meeting today 15th February 2024, in Accra and a resolution was passed, that the ongoing strike should be suspended and engage with the Government as directed” the portion of the statement captured.

The council agreed that more communication with the government was required to resolve the underlying issues.

Following this, TEWU-GH issued an official statement announcing the immediate suspension of the strike and reaffirming its commitment to constructively negotiate with the government going forward.

Read the full statement below:

The Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH) of the public universities in Ghana declared an indefinite strike on February 1st 2024, leadership subsequently directed all members to continue the strike action on 12th February 2024, to press home our demands.

The leadership of TEWU-GH was invited by the National Labour Commission (NLC) on 14th February 2024, in attendance from Government representatives was the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

After a series of discussions with the National Labour Commission and the government, NLC directed the union to suspend the strike action and engage the Government to resolve the issue of the vehicle maintenance allowance to our members.

As we are all aware, the government denied some of our members the vehicle maintenance allowance payment which compelled the union to embark on an indefinite strike action.

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH) had an emergency meeting today 15th February 2024, in Accra and a resolution was passed, that the ongoing strike should be suspended and engage with the Government as directed.

In view of the above, we wish to announce that the ongoing strike action is suspended with immediate effect.

All local executives are requested to disseminate this information/directives to their rank and file for compliance.

Leadership wish to thank all members for their tireless support during this industrial action, for your support, we shall be treated with dignity to improve our working conditions in the public university campuses.

Thank you

Long Live TEWU-GH on the university campuses in Ghana.

Thank you.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com