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Former Head of Monitoring at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu, has waded into discussions over the industrial strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).

UTAG members laid down their working tools and abstained from teaching on Monday, August 2 in protest against what they say is government's refusal to address their worsening conditions of service.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Association directed members to stop all teaching-related services until further notice.

According to the President of UTAG, they will intensify their strike action if the government fails to meet their demands.

"We are giving them [government] some time to respond to us or we take another dimension," Professor Charles Marfo, UTAG President, said on NEAT FM.

“Specifically, negotiation of our conditions of service which was started some two years ago, had overly been delayed with no end in sight . . .We have no option than to resort to an indefinite strike,” he expounded in an interview with Ghana News Agency.

Touching on the issue during Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Charles Owusu called on the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum to go to the negotiation table with the striking teachers to find lasting solutions to their plight.

He reposed confidence in the Minister to resolve what seems to be an impasse between UTAG and the government saying, "I have faith in him. I know he can do it. I believe the way he talks shows he is humble"  and can effectively "engage the teachers to return to the classrooms".