The Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana has accused the government of failing to demonstrate sufficient commitment to resolving concerns expressed about their unfavorable working circumstances, which prompted them to declare a strike in May.
The strike was called off on June 11 after they met with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and were promised that all remaining concerns will be addressed.
However, after returning to work a month ago, the organization has yet to get any response from government officials on the issue.
Zakaria Mohammed, the Association’s National Chairman, said that if the government fails to respond to their requests, members would not hesitate to lay down their tools once again.
“Following our discussions with the Fair Wages [and Salaries Commission], which resulted to the cancellation of our strike, we were told that our requests would be sent to the government and that we would hear back in a week. Now, our argument is that we haven’t heard from the government since that arrangement. Even with the tier 2 pension arrears, no interest calculation has been performed. There has been no correspondence from the government.”
“We still don’t know what percentage the government is providing us in our current talks. So what was the point of even calling the strike off? So we’re telling the government that if this is going to be one of the broken promises, we’re going back to fundamentals, and now that we’ve expanded our membership to 14 institutions, we’ll urge them all to go on strike.”
The Association announced a strike on May 18, 2021, in response to the government’s refusal to pay its members’ Tier 2 pension payments.
Members of the association demanded the award of a market premium and a non-basic allowance, as well as the completion of discussions on their working conditions.
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, the National Labour Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) met with top staff leadership in an attempt to address their complaints.
As a result, the union was forced to call off its strike.
However, the organization is dissatisfied because it believes the government has not shown sufficient commitment to resolving its issues.
Source: ATLFMNEWSROOM
