The Ghana Association of University Administrators, GAUA UCC Chapter has rejected the directive from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission GTEC, ordering public Universities to reopen for the new academic year by Friday, October 16.
President of GAUA-UCC, Alfred Atom Prah emphasized that the administrative staff will remain on strike and will not return to their offices until grievances are formally addressed.
According to him, at a recent engagement with the Education Minister and GTEC, all parties agreed that the Union’s key grievance; the interim market premium would be resolved before any university reopens.
Speaking on ATLFM’s Atlantic Wave following the directive, Mr. Prah made it clear that GAUA members will not be returning to their offices until government puts its promises in writing.
“Yes, as I said earlier on, at the meeting, we agreed,” he said. “The parties all agreed that our top priority, which is our interim market renewal, will be resolved before we pull off the strike and before the school will also reopen. And so, we believe that, yes, a directive will come from GTEC, but we are expecting that the week is still young and we still have about two, three days ahead of us, which Fair Wages could use to address our issue and we can also suspend or call off our strike.””
The GAUA UCC President revealed that local chapters across all sixteen public university campuses unanimously resolved not to suspend their industrial action adding that “until we get that document from Fair Wages and Salaries, they are prepared to support us not to call off or suspend the strike.”
Mr. Prah expressed empathy to parents and guardians regarding the disruptions to the academic calendar, noting that university administrators are also parents affected by the shutdown.
He maintained that the strike is necessary to secure fair working conditions that enable staff to support their families.
He called on all stakeholders to intervene saying “…they should also, as it were, move on and those who have voices, speak to the power that be to address our issues as quickly as possible so that academic work and schools reopen as soon as possible.”
Source: Aba Aikins/ATLFMNEWS
