The University of Cape Coast branch of the Senior Staff Association, Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG), has urged its members to comply with the national directive for the indefinite strike action.
At an emergency meeting with members of the association on UCC campus on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, the Vice Chairman of the SSA- UoG, UCC Local, Mr. Enock Mensah Williams stated that the Association is in full support of the National Executives’ decision.
“We are doing this on behalf of our National Executive Council that from today 13th July 2022 all our members including teachers at the basic schools, health workers and security men, administrators, researchers, and technologists should stay in the house till further notice,” he stressed.
The Senior Staff Association, Universities of Ghana, and the Federation of Universities Senior Staff Association of Ghana in a press briefing on July 13, 2022, declared an indefinite strike due to the government’s inability to meet their 20 percent Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA),
Also, the Association is demanding government to pay among other things, the accrued interest on tier 2 pension arrears from 2010-2016, and also extend generic allowances to all Senior Staff of Public Universities in Ghana.
They are also calling on Public Universities Management to regularize the appointment of temporal and casual staff working over six years.
Read also: SSA-UoG declare strike over CoLA
Comply with directives
Addressing members of the SSA-UCC, Mr. Mensah Williams urged them to totally comply with the National executive council’s directives and not to be intimidated by their superiors.
He explained that “over the past weeks, the Association had some engagements with the Government and its agencies. Unfortunately, they failed to respond to our request. When we met them on Tuesday, they failed even to give us a proposal of how much they can pay and we think it’s very unfair.”
He noted that there are discrepancies when it comes to appointment and promotion in the public universities which the Association think is very unfair and government needs to address it.
“When you go to some other universities there are discrepancies in the allowances our members are expected to enjoy. All these injustices we think should be a thing of the past.”
Mr. Mensah-Williams further hinted that should the National SSA-UoG strike be called off, members of the UCC Local Senior Staff association will continue the industrial strike action till UCC Management adheres to their call of ending the monthly deduction of the health levy.
“Our members made a proposal to management. Management failed to accept the proposal but went ahead with their own strategies. So, every month for the past four months we have been deducted 20 cedis per month, as members indicated in our submission to management, we want to tell them that we are not interested in the health levy and so they should refund our monies to us, failure to do that we will still stay in the house till they pay us our monies and write a letter of apology to our members.”
He also assured of the leadership’s commitment to serving their members.
Source: Eric Sekyi &Flora Tang/ATLFMNEWS
