Three public university unions threaten to withdraw services from Oct 15 over unsettled allowance

Three labour unions in the county’s public universities have issued an ultimatum to the government, warning that they will go on strike if their car and off-campus allowances are not promptly disbursed.

According to a 3news.com report, these unions: the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), Tertiary Education Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU-GH), and the Senior Staff Association-Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG), expressed their dissatisfaction with the government's handling of a previously signed agreement between the labour unions and various government agencies.

“The reason for this press conference is the disregard of a signed agreement between Unions and the Government by the government through its agencies including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and Ghana Tertiary Education Commission in refusing to respect the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between labour unions and the Government on December 8, 2022,” they stated.

According to the unions, despite their willingness to accommodate the government's request for a nine-month moratorium, extending from November 2022 to July 2023, before implementing the new rate and its associated arrears, the government has now reneged on its commitment.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it would interest you to know that the labour unions graciously agreed to the Government’s requested moratorium of nine months, that is November 2022 to July 2023, before the payment of the new rate with its arrears.

“Yet, unfortunately, the Government through GTEC and MoF have now decided to only pay part of the arrears and has resorted to the old rates this past month. A situation that has resulted in rising tensions and profound distrust among members across all the Public University campuses or we withdraw all our services” they noted.

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