Labour Consultant, Austin Gamey has questioned the teacher unions’ decision to stay on strike while negotiating with government.
Speaking on TV3’s Daily Brief, Tuesday, October 6, he criticised the ongoing strike, arguing that parties engaged in negotiations should not resort to industrial action or other measures that could pressure the opposing side into accepting their demands.
Gamey said Ghana has established procedures, both in law and practice, for resolving disputes between employers and workers, and these should be respected during negotiations.
He said parties at the negotiation table should agree not to intimidate each other or take industrial action while discussions are ongoing.
“If you do so, it is like you are holding the other party to ransom and compelling him or her to sort of agree to your wishes. That way you will end with the parties doing something they don’t want to do. It is not a fair approach,” he said.
He stressed that industrial relations should be based on good-faith negotiations rather than pressure tactics.
“The teachers have legitimate concerns. They started raising it not today, and we have bodies in this country that can sit with them and ensure that the employer and themselves negotiate in good faith,” he said.
He argued that neither workers nor employers should approach negotiations with conditions that effectively threaten the collapse of the engagement if their demands are not immediately accepted.
“So, we do not come to the table with a condition hanging on the neck of the other party that if you don’t agree to my wish at all cost, then I will break down everything, like taking strike action or the employer taking a unilateral action,” he stated.
“Whichever form it is, it doesn’t smell like industrial relations at all.”
Gamey maintained that there was no place in sound industrial relations for one party to hold the other “to ransom” during negotiations.
He, however, acknowledged that the government, as the employer, could have acted more proactively to address the teachers’ concerns before the situation escalated.
“I concede the employer should have been more proactive than they have done,” he said.
A meeting on Tuesday, October 6 between the teacher unions and government ended inconclusively with government’s proposal being rejected by the unions.
The meeting is expected to continue tomorrow, Wednesday, October 7 for a resolution to the issue.
Pre-tertiary school activities have been on hold for two weeks since the teachers declared the indefinite strike.
