The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) and the Technical University Senior Administrators Association of Ghana (TUSAAG) at the Bolgatanga Technical University have declared an indefinite strike from August 25, 2023.
The reason for this strike is due to the Vice-Chancellor’s attempt to vary portions of their conditions of service as approved by the Ministry of Finance by hiding behind claims of ambiguities in the Technical Universities Act (2016) Act 922.
TUTAG and TUSAAG have rejected the variation being pursued by the VC in relation to their conditions of service. They have stated that their strike is based on the misinterpretation of portions of their conditions of service pertaining to the retirement benefit by the VC to their disadvantage.
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In a joint release, TUTAG and TUSAAG stated that they strongly reject the VC’s absurd interpretation of their conditions of service where he seeks to departmentalize the payment of their retirement benefits for retirees by paying only three months’ salary for the number of years served under the polytechnic and then one month’s salary for every year served effective only after 2031.
They insist that any TUTAG or TUSAAG member who served for a continuous ten years under the erstwhile polytechnic system automatically qualifies as an accrued right to enjoy this retirement benefit as pertains in other technical universities.
TUTAG and TUSAAG further stated that their position was supported by section 42 (6) of the Technical Universities Act (2016), Act 922 as amended which states that “A person in the employment of a polytechnic in existence immediately before the coming into force of this Act shall be deemed to have been duly employed by the respective Technical University established under this Act on the terms and conditions attached to the post held by that person before the coming into force of this Act”.
TUTAG and TUSAAG stressed that what the VC was trying to do amounted to a variation in their conditions of service which they would not accept in any way shape or form.
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They have demanded the immediate payment of the internal component of the Online Teaching Support Allowance (OTSA) and its accrued arrears for teaching staff that have not been paid since January 2022, unlike other technical universities who had paid theirs up to date.