Ignore Breakaway Groups — TEWU

The Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged its members and other stakeholders in the education sector to ignore two emerging groups claiming to represent educational workers. During a press conference in Accra, TEWU’s General Secretary, Mark Dankyira Korankye, emphasized that TEWU is the only certified union authorized to negotiate for non-teaching staff in the educational sector.

Mr. Korankye highlighted that investigations at the Labour Department confirmed that the Tertiary Education Workers’ Union of Ghana (TEWUG) and the Technical University Workers Association-Ghana (TUWAG), the two new groups, do not possess any collective bargaining certificates. He questioned the legal grounds on which these groups claim to represent non-teaching staff in public and technical universities.

He stated that TEWU of TUC-Ghana holds the exclusive collective agreement and bargaining certificate to represent junior staff, some senior staff, and senior members of public and technical universities in Ghana. The press statement, endorsed by 16 local unions from various public and technical universities, including the University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and others, reinforces TEWU’s sole negotiating position.

The formation of TEWUG in 2022 followed a breakaway by some TEWU members, dissatisfied with their unchanged service conditions for 14 years. They accused TEWU of failing to negotiate better terms. TEWUG’s Chairman, Sulemana Abdul Rahman, alleged that TEWU’s national leadership had not adequately represented members’ interests.

These breakaway groups also claimed to represent members in public universities and reportedly took control of TEWU’s assets in these institutions. In 2022, TEWUG and TUWAG merged, aiming to more effectively represent non-teaching staff in public and technical universities.

However, Mr. Korankye maintained that despite this merger, TEWU of TUC remains the legitimate representative of non-teaching staff in public tertiary institutions. He asserted that TEWU still holds the legal mandate to negotiate with the government, and clarified that while the formation of new groups is not disputed, these splinter groups lack any authority to engage or negotiate with the government on behalf of workers.