The National President of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana, Zakariah Mohammed, has disclosed that the they are likely to intensify their strike action to other departments in their Association.

According to him, government has considerably failed in addressing their concerns over conditions of service.

His comments follow a meeting with a delegation from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to look into their demands for the payment of their outstanding Tier-2 pension contributions. The meeting also sought to discuss ways of improving conditions of services. However, the meeting ended inconclusively.

“We are not content with how the government has handled our issue so far, we are becoming more and more frustrated.

“The next line of action is for us to meet with the National Executive Council to discuss the way forward. Mind you, we left out the security and the staff who work in the hospitals and clinics of the various campuses, among others. With the way things are going, agitations are getting higher and if care is not taken, we may add members with those other departments. It means that we are going to intensify the strike action, by involving other members who were exempted from the strike action”.

Monitoring staff to comply

Mr. Zakaria, on May 21, 2021, disclosed that its members at the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale have complied with the directive to strike.

According to him, the Association’s taskforce was monitoring its members to ensure that they all comply with the strike action.

This, he explained, will ensure they register their displeasure and also draw government’s attention to their predicaments.

Senior staff strikes

The Senior Staff Association’s industrial action begun after claims by the Association of government’s failure to address their concerns.

Following this, the Association embarked on its current nationwide strike on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.

Among their other demands, they are requesting for the payment of market premiums and non-basic allowances. Also, they are advocating for the finalization of negotiations for their conditions of service.

Prior to this, the Association held a strike in January, 2021. However, its members returned to work in February due to the National Labour Commission’s securing court injunction. This compelled the Association to resume its duties while negotiations with government continued.

The Association in December last year demanded the payment of the outstanding Tier-2 pension contributions of its retired members.

In a statement signed by its National Chairman, it extolled the government for its timely intervention in addressing its grievances.

Zacharia Mohammed, stated that, although government was able to pay its pension contribution from 2017-2020, there was still some outstanding arrears.