Story: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Senior Staff Association of the Universities of Ghana (SSAUoG), has denied claims that they have called off their strike despite the government’s agreement to pay a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).
According to the National Chairman of the Association, Mr. Isaac Donkoh, his members are still on strike since their concerns are yet to be addressed by the government.
“The national executives are yet to finalise a settlement with the government on the demand for non-payment of tier 2 pension arrears and other contractual agreements.”
Speaking in an interview, the National Chairman of the Association, was optimistic that members of the association may suspend the strike if the agreement meets their demands.
“We have met with the Ministries of Education and Labour. We were also supposed to sign some agreements with them, but when we got there, it looked as if because of some emergency, we couldn’t sign the agreements, so we had to come home. We agreed on five things, and the parties involved had to sign. When we got there, the ministers were not available. We are not going to call off the strike, but we are going to suspend it if our members are okay with the terms,” he noted.
The group said despite the government’s agreement for the payment of cost of living allowance, its outstanding labour issues remain unresolved.
Mr Donkoh alluded to the non-payment of tier 2 pension arrears and contractual agreements among the reasons for their continuous industrial action.
“Our strike is still in force, so we have asked all our members to stay at home because COLA was one leg of our demands. The rest are still pending – the government is yet to meet us on the remaining demands, so we are still at home“, he reiterated.
