UTAG files motion to set aside NLC court order

There is an impending legal battle between the striking University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) after UTAG filed a motion to set aside National Labour Commission’s (NLC) interlocutory injunction to kowtow them to call-off their nationwide strike.

UTAG has been on a full-blown industrial action over worsening conditions of service forcing the NLC to secure a court order to compel the striking lecturers to return to classroom and pave the way for negotiation.

This move by the NLC to compel the striking UTAG with a restraining court order to resume work without first addressing their grievances did not sit well with the lecturers who continued to lay down their tools despite the NLC court injunction.

Speaking in an interview monitored by African Editors in on 9 August 2021 in Accra, President of UTAG Prof. Charles Marfo said “We have filed a motion to to challenge the NLC court order today and set it aside so we’ll return to court August 16. How can you run to court for an order against us and want to engage us on the negotiation table. It doesn’t make legal sense. That’s why we’ve filed today to challenge the NLC order in court”.

Meanwhile, Executive Secretary of National Labour Commission (NLC) Ofosu Asamoah says the NLC is heading back to court to press contempt of court charges against UTAG after they refused to comply with interlocutory injunction asking them to return to the classroom.

The restraining court order secured by the NLC seeks to compel striking lecturers to resume work pending negotiation to resolve their concerns but was not complied with.

Speaking in an interview monitored by African Editors in Accra on Monday 9 August 2021, Ofosu Asamoah said “We’re going back to court to cite UTAG for contempt of court for not complying with the court order. We’ll get them to obey the order”.

Prof. Marfo noted that “We are here because government is not attaching any seriousness to the strike and our grievances because we go to meeting only to discover that government’s representatives were not present “.

Source : africaneditors.com