UTAG-KNUST votes to reject NEC’s decision to suspend strike

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) chapter at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has voted to reject the decision by the National Executive Council (NEC) to suspend its strike action.

NEC early this week announced through a statement after an emergency meeting that the over six weeks strike has been suspended for a period of two weeks as it returns to the negotiation table to demand from government to improve the conditions of service for its members.

After that decision, the UTAG chapters in various universities have been engaged in a memorandum.

At the end of the KNUST exercise today, the UTAG branch of the University in the Ashanti Region has rejected the NEC decision.

Out of the 865 teachers that cast their votes, only 211 voted for the suspension of the strike with the remaining 654 rejecting the NEC decision.

Speaking to Citi News in an interview, Dr. Eric Abavare who is Vice President of the KNUST UTAG chapter has stressed that although the suspension of the strike has been rejected, lectures will proceed from Monday, February 28, 2022, as planned by the management of the school.

“The voting today has been peaceful and ended successfully. The outcome is that the UTAG-KNUST branch has overwhelmingly rejected the decision from NEC that the strike should be suspended.

“It does not in any way stop lectures to continue. Lectures will continue in this period of two weeks where NEC has suspended the strike. Students must come to school,” Dr. Eric Abavare.

Meanwhile, the UTAG chapter at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, (UPSA) has also today voted to reject the decision of NEC.

Similarly, lectures in the school which started on Wednesday will continue next week until the two weeks period communicated by NEC elapses.

By Eric Nana Yaw Kwafo