Leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana says it will meet the National Executive Council (NEC) to decide on the next line of action as it continues to deliberate with government over its strike.

The leaders have since last week engaged the Ministry of Education, the Fair wages and Salaries Commission and the Ministry of Labour relations over outstanding issues.

In an interview with Citi News, the National Chairman of the Association, Isaac Donkor said the leadership would negotiate in the best interest of its members.

“Government was trying to appeal to us to call off the strike and come to the table. But we have to give them some terms and conditions. We were able to give them the terms and both the government and the association have agreed. Government has signed, so now when we are able to call it off, we go back to the drawing board to negotiate. But we have to consult of NEC and then upon their advice, we decide whether to hold on, suspend or call off the strike.”


The Association is yet to finalize a settlement with the government on the demand for non-payment of tier 2 pension arrears and other contractual agreements.

This comes after the association indicated that its members will still be on strike despite government’s agreement to pay a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

Speaking to Citi News, the National Chairman of the Association, Isaac Donkor said the group may suspend the strike if the agreement meets their demand.

“We have met with the Ministries of Education and Labour. We are also supposed to sign some agreements with them but when we got there it looked as if because of some emergencies, we couldn’t sign the agreements, so we had to come home. We agreed on five things and the parties involved had to sign, when we got there the Ministers were not available. We are not going to call off the strike, but we are going to suspend it if our members are okay with the terms”, says Isaac Donkor.

The group said despite government’s agreement for the payment of Cost of Living Allowance, its outstanding labour issues remain unresolved.

It cited the non-payment of tier 2 pension arrears and contractual agreements among the reasons why their industrial action is still in full force.

“Our strike is still in force, so we have asked all our members to stay at home because COLA was one leg of our demands. The rest are still pending – the government is yet to meet us on the remaining demands, so we are still at home”, Isaac Donkor added.
For example, the Secretary of the KNUST chapter of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana, Kwadwo Bediako-Baryeh, noted that tier 2 interests accrued over the years and the desire for allowances to be normalised were major concerns.

Source: citifmonline