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It has been over three months now since the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) embarked on a strike to demand the payment of its book and research allowance which the government said it had replaced with the National Research Fund. The polytechnics closed down on May 15, three weeks after the strike, in line with the 21-day rule in the Polytechnic Act, which stipulates that the institution ought to close if workers or students go on strike for more than 21 days. Currently, the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has also joined the strike, an indication that all the public universities will be closed and the fate of thousands of students will hang in the balance. POTAG says the government�s failure to pay its members their allowances amounts to a breach of their employment conditions. The government�s argument is that if the teachers are desirous of undertaking research, which, indeed, they must be, they need to apply to the fund to be set up and not merely have it as part of their emoluments. We note that the strike has dragged on because the two parties have adopted entrenched positions, a situation which is doing this country no good. Although an Accra High Court ordered compulsory arbitration between POTAG and the National Labour Commission (NLC) over the issue, the talks broke down and the NLC went back to court to seek a judicial review of the ruling by the court that the strike by POTAG was legal, while POTAG is also asking the court to intervene in the stalled talks. The stalemate means that polytechnic students have had to continue to stay at home, with final-year students not being able to write their final examination. The Daily Graphic is of the opinion that the decision by the government to replace the book and research allowance with a fund to which all lecturers can subscribe makes a lot of economic sense. It is a fact that the research allowance has come to be part of the earnings of lecturers and so any attempt to �deprive� them of it has the tendency to evoke resistance. We appeal to the members of POTAG to rescind their decision and return to the lecture halls. The government has already given an indication that it is considering freezing the salaries of POTAG members �if all efforts to convince them to return to the classroom fail�. For the three months that they have stayed at home, the government has paid them for no work done. We recall that during the Kufuor administration, a similar strike by some teachers in second-cycle schools resulted in their salaries being frozen. Although the salaries were later paid, the effect of the frozen salaries on the affected teachers was not pleasant. POTAG members should, therefore, consider the good faith in which the government has handled the case and go back to the lecture halls, since they can still access money for research from the National Research Fund. Our lecturers should remember that no one pays a worker for no work done. Three months is long enough for any employer to be fatigued of paying his workers without any returns. Perhaps it is time for all to join us to appeal to our lecturers to go back to the lecture halls.