TEWU: Student leaders at University of Ghana step in as porters amid strike

Student leaders at the University of Ghana have been forced to take up administrative roles after TEWU declared a nationwide strike on stalled negotiations with the FSWU on its conditions of service.

The Teachers and Educational Workers Union laid down its tools over the government's failure to finalize its conditions of service due to the inability of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to conclude negotiations with them following engagements in June 2020 on the review of conditions of service for unionize staff of the public universities which expired in 2008.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb, Derek Kwesi Okai, JCR President at the Mensah Sarbah Hall at the University explained how they have had to step in to offer help to especially new students who require the services of potters to award them designated rooms.

“All the workers aren’t working, including Hall Assistants who hand over keys to students after they are done with manual registration. So, we the students and some workers in the school, who aren’t part of TEWU, have taken it upon ourselves to intervene,” he said.

He explained that as long as the strike drags, they will be around to help with as much as they can but they remain hopeful that the impasse between TEWU and the Fair Wages Commission will be resolved soon so their teachers return to classrooms.

Abdul Salam Mohammed, Academic Affairs Head of the UG Students Representative Council also describes the frustration they have been facing, placing a lot of pressure on them to work longer hours just to ensure that students are comfortable.

“The SRC has been getting a lot of referrals from the Halls that we can help with their Hall allocations but all we are doing here is to register people online concerning their accommodation and also their academic registration,” he explained.