University strike- Government take steps to break the deadlock

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 May ?99

Government on Monday appointed a 14-member Committee of Eminent Persons to prevail on striking university workers to return to the negotiating table.

The committee, made up of religious and traditional leaders, business executives and educationists, would not be involved in the negotiations but would help to jam-start where there is a break down, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, said at a press conference in Accra.

The Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) and Federation of University Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSSAG) have been on strike for many weeks now, leading to disruption of academic activities at the universities.

TEWU say the Committee of vice-chancellors and Principals (CVCP) must be given the mandate to open negotiations in accordance with their collective bargaining agreement.

The Minister denied TEWU's claims that the CVCP has not been mandated by government to negotiate on its behalf.

He maintained that the mandate, within which negotiations between CVCP and TEWU can resume, has already been given to the CVCP adding that government is ready to grant another mandate if the first one has been denied.

Mr Spio-Garbrah said should TEWU return to the negotiating table its demands "will receive constructive response and negotiations under its collective Bargaining agreement".

Stressing government's readiness at playing a facilitating role, he said the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare and Deputy Ministers of Finance and Education would be present at a scheduled meeting on Tuesday between CVCP and TEWU.

Mr Spio-Garbrah said government is now implementing the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (Price Waterhouse) and major labour unions have accepted to co-operate in its implementation.

"We would wish to call upon TEWU to similarly co-operate with government in the implementation of the Universal Salary Structure which most workers have felt has been long overdue".

The government is concerned about the deteriorating conditions on university campuses including the stoppage of academic work and worsening sanitary conditions, he said.

In another development, TEWU and FUSSAG reacting to statements made earlier by the education minister, said at press conference on Monday that they will end the strike as soon as the Committee of vice-chancellors and Principals (CVCP) is given the mandate to negotiate with them.

This mandate, they said, should include figures, guidelines or parameters within which a party would bargain.

Mr Dan Ayim Antwi, General-Secretary of TEWU, said the government should be blamed for the current labour unrest in the Universities.

The two bodies noted that there had not been any chance for negotiation or bargaining because CVCP, the government's representative, had not been given the mandate to go to the bargaining table.

This situation, he said, had made it impossible for them to call off their current strike action.

Mr Antwi said, "the Minister's assertion that CVCP had been given a clear and unambiguous mandate to negotiate but TEWU and FUSSAG had refused to negotiate with the CVCP is not true.

"TEWU and FUSSAG are not afraid of the bargaining table, we have been bargaining with the university management for nearly 40 years and we have faith in the bargaining table.

"The Minister's attempt to link the review of our collective bargaining with the Price Waterhouse (salary rationalisation document) is rather strange.... As far as we are aware Price Waterhouse has not been implemented and has no bearing whatsoever on our collective bargaining which expired on 30th September, 1998."

Mr Antwi said Price Waterhouse is not mentioned in "any of our nation's labour laws and must not be used to suppress our collective bargaining process," adding that the Minister needs to acquaint himself with the real situation on the ground.