The Senior Staff Association, Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) has declared an indefinite nationwide strike, citing what it describes as unilateral changes to its conditions of service by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).
They also mentioned delays in tier two pension payments, and unresolved salary disparities at the University of Media Arts and Communications (UNIMAC).
“Our concern number one is that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has touched our conditions of service, which we both agreed to. They have unilaterally changed it and are imposing something different on us,” he said.
At the center of the dispute is an overtime allowance for senior staff of public universities, which SSA-UoG says was captured in a collective agreement signed in 2021 existing agreement without consent.
According to Mr. Ansong, all public universities implemented the overtime allowance until May last year, when the University of Ghana stopped payment, claiming it would replace it with a “call-in allowance” a proposal SSA-UoG says it has never agreed to.
The situation, according to the Association, has now spread beyond UG to other institutions, including the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), with fears that more campuses will follow.
“If you don’t take care, it will spread to all the other campuses. We cannot wait for such a thing to happen,” Mr. Ansong warned.
The union is also demanding the immediate payment of outstanding tier two pension contributions for August to December 2024.
Although government has paid for 2025, SSA-UoG says the arrears remain unpaid.
“That is our money. It is what we invest and depend on when we retire. I don’t think it is anything huge that government cannot pay,” the SSA-UoG President said.
SSA-UoG’s third demand concerns staff of the University of Media Arts and Communications (UNIMAC), which was formed from the merger of three institutions.
According to the union, when UNIMAC became a fully-fledged public university, staff were not placed on the university salary structure, resulting in years of underpayment and denial of allowances.
Although they were placed on the correct scale in January this year, SSA-UoG is demanding negotiations on arrears and a payment timetable.
The union says repeated petitions to the Ministry of Finance, including through the National Labour Commission, have gone unanswered.
SSA-UoG says the strike will only be called off if:
• The FWSC withdraws its letter on overtime and instructs universities to revert to the existing conditions of service pending the conclusion of negotiations.
• Government pays the outstanding tier two pension arrears.
Services including administration, finance, security, libraries, laboratories, hospitals, cleaning services, and basic schools on university campuses will all be affected.
Despite the timing coinciding with the resumption of students, Mr. Ansong said the union had exhausted all options.
