Thursday, 28 March

Call off strike action; return to negotiation table – FWSC to senior university staff

Education
Dr Edward Kwapong- CEO,FWSC

The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has entreated the Senior Staff of Universities of Ghana to call off their ongoing industrial strike immediately and return to the negotiation table for a resolution.

A statement issued by the FWSC and signed by the Chief Executive, Dr Edward Kwapong indicated that the parties involved had previously engaged the Association to officially inform them of the granting of bargaining certificate by the Chief Labour Officer.

The statement continued: “Upon receipt of that letter, we invited you to our office to discuss the development and the understanding was that you would reach out to the leadership of FUSSAG to be able to determine the manner in which the Union would collaborate with each other in engaging the employer”.

“We are therefore extremely surprised that while waiting, you wrote to the National Labour Commission on 15th January 2021 informing them of your intention to embark on a strike action,” the statement added.

Dr Kwapong stated that “as part of the negotiations, we have covered all demands except two (2). Incidentally, there are two (2) outstanding issues comprising issues raised in your press release for which we need to engage.

“In the circumstance, we are urging you to call off the strike and meet with FWSC as soon as possible early next week”.

The Senior Staff Association- Universities of Ghana on Thursday, 21 January, 2021, began a nationwide industrial strike.

A statement signed by the Association’s National Chairman, Zakaria Mohammed stated: “I wish on behalf of the National Executive Council to announce the withdrawal of services by all members of the Senior Staff Association- Universities of Ghana with immediate effect”.

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association, on 13 January 2021 wrote a letter to the National Labour Commission, serving notice of their intention to embark on the industrial strike “as a result of government's persistent failure and the total disregard for their concerns”.

The letter cited non-payment of tier-2 pension arrears, market premium and non-basic allowance and migration of Public universities onto the Controller and Accountant General payroll system as some of their concerns.

They also mentioned failure by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to engage them on their conditions of service as another concern, adding that all attempts to engage stakeholders to address the concerns have been unsuccessful.

 

Source: Classfmonline.com