The Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG) and Technical University Senior Administrators’ Association of Ghana (TUSAAG) branches of the Bolga Technical University (BTU) are currently on strike.
This follows attempts by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the institution to vary portions of their conditions of service as approved by the Ministry of Finance.
In a press statement dated August 25, 2023 and jointly signed by executives of TUTAG and TUSAAG, the staff explained that the Vice Chancellor is hiding behind claims of ambiguity in the “Technical Universities Act (2016) Act 922 as Amended” to shortchange them.
“We strongly reject our VC’s absurd interpretation of our conditions of service where he seeks to departmentalise the payment of our retirement benefits for our retirees by paying only three months salary for the number of years served under the polytechnic and then one month salary for every year served effective only after 2031”.
“We insist that any TUTAG or TUSAAG member who served for continuous 10 years under the erstwhile polytechnic system automatically qualifies as an accrued right to enjoy this retirement benefit as pertains in other technical universities” the Associations added.
TUTAG and TUSAAG further stated that their position is 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”.
The group is therefore demanding the immediate payment of the “internal component of the Online Teaching Support Allowance (OTSA) and its accrued arrears for teaching staff that have not paid since January 2022”.