Some three labour unions have given the Ministry of Finance a minimum of two days to authorize payment of agreed allowances indicating that failure by the ministry will result in an industrial strike action on Friday, August 9, 2024.
The three unions; Senior Staff Association-Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG), the Federation of Senior Staff Associations of Ghana (FUSSAG), and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union of the Trade Union Congress (TEWU-TUC) in a statement dated Monday, August 5, 2024, noted that “The Unions have given the government (Ministry) up to the close of work on Thursday 8th August to release the letter. Failure to do so will result in the Unions being forced to take industrial action on the 9th of August, 2024. The SSA-UoG, FUSSAG and TEWU (TUC) are committed to fighting for the rights of its members and will not rest until justice is served.”
According to the unions, they gave a notice to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission of Ghana of their intention to take industrial action on June 21, 2024 if the Commission fails to rectify the injustice meted out to members regarding the Vehicle Maintenance Allowance (VMA) and other related allowances.
In response to their notice, they mentioned that, the National Labour Commission (NLC) summoned the parties for a hearing on the issue on June 19, 2024, and directed the parties to go and engage and report on June 26, 2024.
Subsequently, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission invited the unions to discuss the issue which an agreement was reached and an addendum signed.
However, the three unions in the statement, have raised concerns over the ministry’s failure to engage the unions after the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has done the needful by writing to the Ministry for Finance for payment to be effected.
“We have tried to engage the Ministry on several occasions to release a letter to that effect so our members could be paid but the Ministry has refused. Meanwhile, those universities on government Subvention have been paid together with the arrears leaving those directly on the Controller and Account General’s Payroll”, the statement said.
The Unions further noted that, “government is using Machiavellian tactics to deny us of an agreement reached with them”, hence giving the government up to the close of work on Thursday, August 8, to release the letter.
“Failure to do so will result in the Unions being forced to take industrial action on August 9, 2024”, the unions stressed.
