University administrators across Ghana have commenced a nationwide strike on Monday, January 29.
The strike is in protest against the alleged disregard for their conditions of service by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
Despite an invitation from the National Labour Commission (NLC) for a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the General Secretary of the association, Richard Afriyie, stated in a media interview that the strike would proceed.
He insisted that they would not return to work until their grievances are adequately addressed.
“We have directed our people to lay down their tools until further notice. So until then, we are beginning it. There hasn’t been any disregard for any directive. We have been asked to appear before NLC to discuss the matter on Wednesday.”
“We have not yet gone to appear before them to know what is in store for us. And we cannot just call off by any opinion or based on any emotion or whatever. It is a collective decision we have taken, and we need to comply with that,” he said.
In a related development, the Senior Staff Association of Public Universities is standing firm on the continuation of their strike, disregarding the National Labour Commission’s directive to suspend it.
The Association’s leadership maintains that they must first convene and engage in discussions with their members before deciding to unilaterally end the strike.
Isaac Donkoh, the National Chairman of the Association, emphasized their commitment to prioritizing the interests of their members and asserted that they would not be rushed into making any unfavorable decisions.
“We are still on strike at the moment. So we are expecting that engagement, and we hope and pray that the engagement will yield some positive results. Unfortunately, we planned to meet last week Friday, but we couldn’t convene.”
“So we are planning to schedule a meeting within the week before we meet the government. So we are yet to meet and decide.”
