The Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana, the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) and other affiliated unions have suspended their weeks-long industrial strike.
The suspension on Friday, February 9, followed negotiations with the government over their conditions of service where some of their major concerns were addressed
Addressing the press after the meeting, the Chairman of TEWU, the University of Ghana Chapter, Ken Botchway, revealed that the 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,” Mr Botchway said.
He added that the strike was not called off entirely because the government still has to address other issues.
“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 added.
University unions declared an indefinite nationwide strike against the government’s perceived negligence of issues related to pensions and the alleged unjust termination of their overtime allowances.
The striking groups are the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSAUG), the Federation of Universities Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSSAG), the Teachers’ and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) of Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA).
