POTAG Rebuts NLC Claim

Friday, November 5,2010

By Stephen Kwabena Effah

The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has told the Accra High Court that it is the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) which has “flatly refused” to enter into compulsory arbitration with them to resolve their terms and conditions of service.

In a rebuttal to the National Labour Commission’s (NLC) claimed that it had refused to enter into compulsory arbitration with the FWSC, POTAG told the court it had always been ready for the arbitration process.

“The impression we get by the application is that the NLC is asking POTAG to clap with one hand,” Sampson Obeng, counsel for POTAG said yesterday in court when he argued for the application to be declined.

According to him, the FWSC indicated to POTAG in a meeting on Wednesday that it could not enter into arbitration with them for any negotiations on their terms and condition of service because negotiations were closed.

The NLC initiated a legal action against POTAG for refusing to comply with the commission's October 15, 2010 directive to POTAG to enter into compulsory arbitration to resolve their terms and conditions of service which expired since 2006.

POTAG in a letter to the NLC dated August 25 raised issues with the suspension of the migration of the polytechnic staff to the Integrated Payroll Database 2 (IPPD 2) of the Controller and Accountant's Department, and discussion of unresolved issues in their conditions of service, which expired in 2006.

The NLC thus invited the FWSC and POTAG for a hearing on the issues raised by POTAG at which it directed the FWSC to meet POTAG to address the concerns of the teachers and thereafter report to the Commission.

However POTAG in a letter dated October 16, 2010, registered its protest against the NLC’s directive and questioned why POTAG should return to the classroom and at the same time be directed to go for arbitration.

The NLC thus filed an application praying the Industrial and Labour Division of the High Court to order the striking teachers submit themselves to compulsory arbitration with the FWSC, as well as call of their illegal strike.

Meanwhile the court presided over by Justice Kwabena Asuman-Adu, yesterday fixed November 12 to rule on the matter. This was after the two parties concluded their argument to buttress their case.

Moving the motion for an application for an order to compel POTAG to comply with the NLC directive, counsel for NLC, C.S. Sackey, said instead of complying with the order, POTAG decided to go on an illegal strike action.

He said POTAG should have seen the directive as a welcoming one to address the issues of their terms and condition of service which have not been attended to, describing the order as “something like a silver platter that was given them”.

According to him, POTAG and FWSC were given three days within which to notify the commission whether or not they agreed to the unresolved issues.

However, he said, POTAG in the letter dated October 16, 2010, registered its protest against the commission's directive and questioned why they should return to the classroom and at the same time be directed to go for arbitration.

Mr. Sackey said POTAG subsequently refused to enter into compulsory and embarked on an illegal strike action, thus prompting NLC to invoke section 172 of the Labour Act to seek an order compelling them to comply with the directive.

But counsel for POTAG, Mr. Obeng urged the court to dismiss the NLC application, indicating that it had at all material time been ready for the compulsory arbitration just but the FWSC has been unwilling.

He told the court that POTAG found as shocking, FWSC indication that it could not open negotiations with them, adding “we are not the people unwilling to negotiate but the FWSC”.