Sunyani Polytechnic has refused to recognize the Polytechnic Workers’ Association, Ghana (POWAG) which broke away from the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU).
The polytechnic authorities have subsequently interdicted POWAG’s local chairman for six months without reason, DAILY GUIDE was informed.
The interdicted local chairman, Kofi Abrefa, who championed the welfare of local members of POWAG, has not been investigated since, and all efforts by the national executives of the association to have him reinstated have proved futile.
The president of the National Council of POWAG, Nana Kwapong Offei-Boahen, has therefore issued a 21-day ultimatum to the authorities of Sunyani Poly to reinstate Mr. Abrefa or face the wrath of the association.
This was part of a four-point resolution issued at the end of a press conference held on the polytechnic’s campus by the Executive Committee Board of POWAG on Thursday to lay bare some teething problems militating against the smooth running of the association since it broke away from TEWU on May 9, 2014.
POWAG further pleaded with the government to lift the ban placed on the country’s polytechnics to recruit new staff.
This, they said, was urgent because aging members of the POWAG had been going on pension, whilst others had died or resigned and so needed replacement to reduce the work load on a few members in the polytechnics.
“POWAG would like to remind drafters of the Technical University Bill that the composition of all statutory bodies, especially the council, should not contain the name of any union but rather staff/job classification or categories,” leadership of the association appealed.
POWAG also made a passionate appeal to the Controller and Accountant General to start deducting dues of its members across the country at source.
Explaining the status of POWAG, Nana Kwapong Offei-Boahen, who is also a senior administrator at the Takoradi Polytechnic, said “Though the union has not gotten its bargaining certificate yet, it is recognized by the labour law, Act 651 and the 1992 Constitution as a duly registered labour union in the country on 9th May, 2014, and has a total membership of 1,800 more than TEWU in the country’s polytechnics.”
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