Organised Labour is facing significant backlash following its decision to suspend a nationwide strike planned for October 10, which was aimed at protesting the government's handling of illegal mining (galamsey).

The strike was called off after the government announced new measures to address the crisis, including the suspension of a legislative instrument that permits mining in forest reserves and the deployment of military forces to combat illegal mining.

• Read also: Galamsey: Organised labour suspends October 10 strike

Despite these government actions, the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has broken away from Organised Labour's stance, announcing its own nationwide strike, which took effect on October 10.

UTAG’s National President, Mamudu Akudugu, expressed disappointment with organised labour's decision but said it was not unexpected.

He emphasised that UTAG's decision to strike was not politically motivated.

“I think every Ghanaian is disappointed, and UTAG also rightly so. But of course, the truth is that we already knew that this may happen, and so we stayed close on glue to our internal processes, and we saw that we are not twiddling in any way," Mr Akudugu stated.

• Read also: Galamsey: I’m disappointed organised labour called off strike – Awula Serwah

He added that UTAG's decision to strike is based on the overwhelming support of its members from the 15 public universities it represents.

"We are duty-bound to show leadership. And so for everybody to even conceive and think that we are doing the bidding of a political party, it is a very big insult to the intellectual community of the country, and we take an exception to that,” he said.

Security analyst, Professor Kwesi Aning also criticised organised labour’s decision to back down.

Although he commended UTAG for holding its ground, he argued that organised labour has lost credibility.

"They are not worth the paper on which their names are written. Well, when you deceive a nation, when you don't think through your negotiation position with governments that seek to prevent a major environmental catastrophe that is looming, and you use the most infantile of excuses to pull back from under your own members..." he lamented.

Prof Aning continued; “So there are no words spoken enough to describe this disgrace but I think it fits into a pattern that has been happening for quite some time. It's most unfortunate.”

The General Secretary of the Mortuary Workers Union, Richard Kofi Jordan also described the decision to call off the strike as a betrayal.