Indefinite strike hits universities: Senior staff demand change

The management of the Senior Staff Associations of the Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) has declared to begin an indefinite strike by members. The industrial action which began on May 21, is to emphasize their demand for the implementation of the details of an agreement they have with government.

George Ansong, the National Chairman of the Universities  Association, said in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on May 21 that “What has led to this is the non-implementation of an agreement we have signed with the government since November 2024. It’s a collective bargaining agreement we signed with the previous government, and you know it was close to the election so we followed up, because of the election they could not implement it. So, the new government came we did a follow-up we were told the President was yet to appoint his minister so we should wait.”

He stated that “We waited when the ministers were appointed, we wrote to the Minister of Education, later we were told by finance that they are factoring in our agreement because it contains some monetary elements so we should wait for them to factor it into the budget. We agreed and we waited for the budget to be passed. After the budget was passed, we had a meeting with the Minister of Education, he assured us that he was going to follow up for it to be implemented as soon as possible, that never happened.”

George Ansong said “When we did a follow-up to meet the Director in Charge of Universities said the date was not favorable, so he was going to invite us again, he never invited. I called him he then told me that he has our letters with him. In fact, the day we met the Minister he took a copy of our letter he minuted on it and gave it to them to work on it. He told us that yes, he has all the letters with him, but we should write again to remind him before we do the follow-up.”

George Ansong said they failed to follow that directive, “that one we didn’t do because we don’t see why you have confirmed that you have the letters with you. The Minister has asked you to work on it and you tell us to write another letter to remind you, we didn’t mind.”

George Ansong, the National Chairman of the Universities  Association, disclosed that “at the Ministry of Finance, we were told, oh everything is fine. The letter has been drafted. It’s left with signing it. We waited the letter didn’t come, so we wrote to the National Labour Commission declaring our intention of going on strike. And yesterday was the deadline. Seven working days, so today we decided to go on strike.”

He said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has also been unhelpful here. He emphasized that “Monday, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission invited us. When we went, we were told that the new boss says he has just come and that was the first time he was hearing of our case. And so what government is saying is that, he the new boss will have to validate it before they give the go-ahead for it to be implemented.”

George Ansong indicated that they find the process as a time-wasting. He explained that “I don’t see why a letter has been even drafted and is waiting for signing for you to also tell us that you are now going to validate it or endorse it before it is implemented. I believe that government is a continuum, and this letter has been with the Finance Ministry since November last year. So why is that somebody has just come and he will also have to endorse it or validate it before it is implemented and when we’re following up nobody told us this story. So, we saw that it was a delay tactic that they were playing with us. That is why today we have called the strike.”

He questioned that “The immediate past CEO of Fair Wages has done all those things. We have gotten past where somebody will have to validate. So, when the previous boss was leaving, he didn’t leave any handing over notes and those there, apart from the boss who left everybody is there. Nobody briefed him?”

George Ansong revealed that the Controller and Accountant General has been asked to begin implementation. Until that is completed , they will won’t cancel the strike. He again said “The government has asked the Controller and Accountant General to see to the implementation and that is it. So, if today the letter comes fine, we’ll call our people to go back to work.”

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