Universities should pay some of the allowances

We welcome members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) back to the lecture halls after their six-week absence.
The university teachers had been on strike since August 1, 2013, demanding the payment of market premium arrears due them which had not been paid since January, 2012 and for the payment of the difference in book and research allowances received by lecturers of other analogous educational institutions and those of the universities.

Despite the release by the government of GH¢25 million to pay the arrears, the lecturers continued their strike, citing the non-payment of the difference as the reason for their adamant posture.

It is not surprising that the university dons chose the strike option to press home their demand for what they are entitled to.

The Daily Graphic notes, with disappointment, the fact that strikes have now become the norm for all manner of workers to press home their demand for better service conditions or even what they have already negotiated for.

This is in spite of the fact that the Labour Act (651) of 2003 clearly sets out rules that employees must follow to seek redress to their grievances. It is now common to hear workers, including those at the highest level of academia, claiming that strikes are the only means to get what workers are entitled to, ignoring altogether the laid down rules.

Although the National Labour Commission (NLC) has declared most of these strikes illegal, there appears to be no end in sight.

We find it worrying, especially for the universities, that all manner of costs, including book and research allowances, are still dependent on the availability of funds provided by the government.

The government and its agencies are responsible for the provision of infrastructure and other top expenses of the public universities.

The Daily Graphic is of the view that it is time the public universities absorbed some of these expenses to avoid the annual ritual of holding governments, parents and the whole nation to ransom because one or the other benefit has not been paid to lecturers of tertiary institutions.

At a time when our tertiary institutions appear to have a preference for fee-paying students over regular students because of the revenue they derive from the students and revenue accruing from, for example, the sale of university forms, there is no reason some of these ‘smaller’ costs should not be borne by the  institutions themselves.

Our tertiary institutions should be able to raise sufficient funds internally, with the assistance of all the employees of these institutions, to free the central government from having to bear some of these costs.

After all, these are institutions that train Ghanaian citizens and others to make a living. They must set the example and stop relying on the government for the payment of nearly all benefits to staff.

We hope that with the return of UTAG members to the lecture halls, all outstanding issues will be thrashed out to avert another strike by the members.

Daily Graphic/Ghana