The Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), the Federation of Universities Senior Staff (FUSSAG), and the Senior Staff Association of Public Universities in Ghana (SSA-UoG) are the three striking unions that have declared their intention to halt industrial action.
In a statement signed by SSA-UoG National Chairman Isaac Donkoh, the groups said that their successful meetings with their various employers led to the decision to halt the strike.
On January 17, 2024, the strike got underway because the government wasn’t paying the Tier-2 members. Following an emergency National Executives Council (NEC) meeting at KNUST on February 7, 2024, “to evaluate the state of the strike,” the unions decided to call off the strike.
“NEC passed a resolution to halt the walkout and work with the government to develop a plan for paying the three per cent penalty and recalculating interest that was accrued between 2010 and 2016.” As a result, we would like to declare that the current industrial action has been halted effective immediately,” the statement read.
The entire statement is given below.
The three Labour Unions in the public universities in Ghana, i.e., SSA-UoG, FUSSAG, and TEWU declared an industrial action on Wednesday, 17th January 2024. Since the declaration of the industrial action, leadership has engaged the Employer and the National Labour Commission on several occasions to address the impasse.
At a meeting held on Thursday, 1st February 2024, the Employer, represented by the Deputy Minister of Finance accepted that it had failed to pay members Tier-2 Pension contributions on time and unilaterally varied the conditions of service of staff of public universities without recourse to them.
For the sake of those who were badly affected by the strike particularly the basic school pupils and the sick students on various campuses, both parties agreed to make progress.
The Labour Unions then demanded an immediate restoration of overtime allowance and payment of all outstanding Tier-2 pension arrears while they engaged the Government on the roadmap for the payment of the penalty and the recalculation of accrued interest on Tier-2 Pensions from 2010-2016.
The Employer has graciously restored the overtime allowance and paid all outstanding Tier-2 pension arrears. In addition, the Employer has assured the Labour Unions to resolve all outstanding issues related to Tier 2.
An emergency National Executives Council (NEC) meeting was held in KNUST on Tuesday, 7th February 2024 to evaluate the state of the strike. NEC passed a resolution to suspend the strike and engage the Government on the roadmap for the payment of the three per cent penalty and the recalculation of accrued interest from 2010 to 2016.
Thus, we wish to announce that the ongoing industrial action is suspended with immediate effect.
All local executives are requested to disseminate this directive to their rank and file for compliance.
We wish to thank all stakeholders for their tireless efforts to end this industrial action.
More importantly, we thank you, our gallant members, for your support as we work to secure improved conditions of service for all members.
Long Live all Labour Unions on the campuses of public universities in Ghana.
