The National Chairman of the Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH), Sulemana A. Rahman, has strongly criticized the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), accusing them of being unfair and misrepresenting the facts in the dispute over university council seats.
In an exclusive interview on Campus Exclusive, the chairman defended the union’s ongoing the action and stated that TEWU-GH would not accept any arrangement that allows the minority to override the will of the majority.
”We (TEWU-GH) will never allow a minority to lead the majority. It has never happened anywhere in Ghana’s democratic history, and it will not start with the Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana.”
He argued that TEWU-GH, which is made up solely of workers from traditional public universities, has outgrown its affiliation with TEWU under the TUC, which he said is dominated by members from the Ghana Education Service (GES).
”If we (TEWU-GH) choose to remain under these people (TEWU-TUC), we will never progress. To move forward, we must stand on our own,” Mr. Rahman asserted.
He accused TEWU-TUC of betraying university-based staff over the years and prioritizing GES workers’ interests. According to him, several unions—including UTAG, SSA-UoG, and GAUA—have already broken away from TEWU-TUC for similar reasons.
The flashpoint in the current strike is a letter from GTEC directing that TEWU-TUC representatives be appointed to university councils across the country. Mr. Rahman condemned this directive as unjust, noting that it ignored a prior collective agreement to verify union membership strength on each campus before making appointments.
”GTEC has not been fair to TEWU-GH regarding the issue of council representation,” he stressed.
He called on the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour to intervene and enforce Section 10 of the Labour Regulations (LI 1833), which mandates that where two unions contest representation, the Chief Labour Officer must conduct a verification exercise to determine which has majority support.
TEWU-GH is demanding that GTEC immediately revoke the June 23 letter favoring TEWU-TUC and reinstate an earlier directive that suspended all appointments until the dispute is resolved.
”The only way forward is for the majority union to represent its members. We are not saying TEWU-GH should dominate everywhere, but where we are in the majority, we must be recognized.”
As of now, the strike remains in force. TEWU-GH has warned of further disruptions across public universities if their demands are not met.
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Story by Michelle Lartey|univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Kuuku Osei-Baidoo
