Leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) says it will proceed with its strike from Thursday October 10 despite the decision by Organized Labor to suspend the planned strike to protest government’s inaction against the galamsey menace in the country.
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Organised Labour has suspended its much-anticipated nationwide strike slated for Thursday, October 10, 2024. This follows an emergency meeting on Wednesday where union leaders assessed the situation and agreed to suspend the industrial action despite a sharply divided front.
According to Organised Labour, the decision is based on assurances from the government to ramp up efforts to tackle galamsey which has caused extensive damage to water bodies and forest reserves.
Subsequently, government issued a statement to accede to some of the demands agreeing to revoke the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2023 (L. I. 2462) as part of a new move in the fight against illegal mining and directing the military to collaborate with small-scale miners to clamp down on illegal mining.
But President of the University of Ghana Chapter of UTAG, Prof Ransford Gyampo who described the leadership of Organised Labour as “incompetent” labelled the whole meeting as a charade.
“I am in touch with my National President. We are holding our own meeting this evening and then I am telling you that we are not going to go by this charade. We are not going to go by this show of incompetence and gross disrespect to other unions constituting labor, ” he stated
According to Prof Gyampo, “Clearly they came with an agenda. Look, there are so many things that are being said about the leadership of Organized Labour and the kinds of things that happened here, festers those bogus charges and allegations. Otherwise, if you want to meet with organized labour, why do you come with a prepared speech? In the meeting… if you want to get up and speak, the chairman says he doesn’t want you to talk. Look, we didn’t finish the meeting, and they called you guys the media to join the meeting.”
He further stated that, “The 16 public universities have all voted unanimously and overwhelming to say that they want to go on the strike and we don’t care about what disorganized labour wants to do. You do not call a meeting and come with a prepared speech. What was the basis? You sat in the comfort of your bedroom with the politician who manipulated you to come and read this to us. Look they have people they can manipulate not some of us,” he said
UTAG NEC has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday evening assuring its members of taking a decision that will represent their overwhelming support to the fight against illegal mining.
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Organised Labour suspends intended strike on October 10 | 3News
