Parliament’s Education Committee says it has scheduled to meet with the leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) next week to bring finality to the impasse between the union and government.

Ranking Member on the Education Committee in Parliament, Peter Nortsu Kotoe disclosed this in an interview with Citi News.

“We agreed to meet UTAG at our meeting on Wednesday. We plan to hold the meeting next week, listen to them and hopefully bring finality to the matter as we appeal to both sides,” he said.

The scheduled meeting follows the High Court’s order for the National Labour Commission (NLC) and UTAG to return to the negotiation table and resolve the impasse for the second time.

Both parties are at a deadlock over the five-week strike by UTAG. The NLC and UTAG have failed to settle the matter after the High Court on February 3 ordered UTAG and NLC to settle the matter out of court.

UTAG’s demands

UTAG wants the government to reconsider the payment of its annual research allowance to a more realistic allowance “as this is critical to our research output, promotion and ultimately national development.”

They also want the 2013 Interim Market Premium (IMP) of 114% on Basic Salary restored.

The Association had bemoaned the current salary arrangement which has reduced its members’ basic premiums to $997.84 instead of the 2012 conditions of service which put entry level lecturers on a monthly pay of $2,084.42.