Ultimate radio has gathered that negotiations between government and the university and polytechnic lecturers over book and research allowances hit a deadlock Wednesday after both sides remained uncompromising.?
The lecturers and the Ministry of Education have been meeting over government’s decision to replace their research and book allowances with a research and innovation fund, a decision the lecturers have vehemently kicked against since its announcement in the 2014 budget.
According to the lecturers, government cannot take that unilateral decision. They also contend the allowances fund their research and lecture notes preparations without which they cannot teach effectively.
The National labor commission which intercepted a threatened strike action ordered all parties to go into negotiations with a May 13 deadline after which the parties were to report to the commission.
Speaking to ultimate radio after the deliberations, President of UTAG, Dr. Ofori Bekoe explained that government is unready to reverse its decision to scrap the allowances.
“Government is still where it is from the last time we met insisting that they want to establish the national research fund and the way they went by it, they didn’t follow the directives that was given by the National Labor Commission. We are at a stalemate and we have reported to the NLC about that and they have given a directive that they will have to bring in an arbitrator to resolve the issues,” he said.
The National Labor Commission has set the systems in place for the arbitration and given both sides a list of arbitrators to choose from before a day will be set for arbitration.
Source: GhanaWeb
