INFORMATION available to The Chronicle indicates that the lecturers of the premier communication school in the country, Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) have embarked on an indefinite industrial action to back their demand for good salaries and better conditions of service.

The Director of the institute, Mr David Newton, in an interaction with students of the school after an emergency meeting yesterday, said it was illegal for the lecturers to have embarked on strike action without notifying the management. "The legal way for the lecturers to have gone on strike is to present proposal to the management of the school, giving them ultimatum upon which the management and board would act upon to avoid this unforeseen circumstances", he added.

To him therefore, the lecturers had embarked on the strike action without using the right procedure for strike actions.

Mr. Newton further stated that the management of the institute had no option than support the lecturers to negotiate with the Ministry of Information to receive some package in the 2004 budget to better their salaries and conditions of service in the short run.

The paper has also learnt that the institute, which is under the Ministry of Information, did not enjoy tertiary privileges even though all their lecturers were tertiary lecturers.

He said also that in order to change this law so that the institute could be placed under the Ministry of Education to enable the enjoyment of equal rights as their counterparts in other tertiary institutes, "We sent a proposal to the government in 1998 but the proposal, they say, is with the attorney general's department."

According to the director, the law which established the institute, had affected the school very badly, including the lecturers. The institute lacked such basic communication school facilities as an Internet caf? and a computer laboratory.

He therefore urged the government to speed up the processing of the law to enhance the development of the school.