Senior Staff, TEWU and FUSSAG suspend strike after negotiation with Gov’t

The Senior Staff Association of Public Universities in Ghana (SSA-UoG), Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU), and the Federation of Universities Senior Staff (FUSSAG) have announced the suspension of their intention to lay down their working tools.

Addressing the media, the Chairman of TEWU, the University of Ghana Chapter, Ken Botchway, disclosed that, their decision to suspend the strike was a result of successful negotiations with the government over their conditions of service, however,  government has paid the nine months arrears of tier two benefits owed them.

“Fortunately government has released the funds to the fund managers as we speak. That notwithstanding, the government is supposed to pay a 3% penalty for delay in releasing the funds.There is supposed to be interest calculated on the money the government has released. The government is supposed to use compound interest and not simple interest, if you use simple interest, the contributors are at a disadvantage, so it is another chapter we are going to look at,” he stated.

However, the group, in a statement signed by the National Chairman of SSA-UoG, Isaac Donkoh, indicated that unions reached the decision to suspend the strike after an emergency National Executives Council (NEC) meeting was held at KNUST on February 7, 2024, “to evaluate the state of the strike.”

“NEC passed a resolution to suspend the strike and engage Government on the roadmap for the payment of the three percent 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”, Isaac Donkoh stated.

Below is the full statement.

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 for an immediate restoration of overtime allowance and payment of all outstanding Tier-2 pension arrears whiles they engage 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 Pensions arrears. In addition, the Employer has assured the Labour Unions to resolve all outstanding issues related to the 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 Government on the roadmap for the payment of the three percent 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 effort to end this industrial action.

More importantly, we thank you, our gallant members, for your support as we work to secure improved condition of service for all members.

Long Live all Labour Unions on the campuses of public universities in Ghana.