The Federation of Universities Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSSAG), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) and the Senior Staff Association (SSA) of the University of Ghana are protesting management’s decision to cancel overtime payments, restricting them to junior staff.
The unions voiced their concerns at a joint meeting on Wednesday September 3,2025 at the main entrance of the university.
Addressing union members and the media, SSA-UG Chairperson Gladys Alantiya argued that the cancellation violates both the Labour Act of 2003 and the university’s conditions of service.
“As far as we are concerned, the Labour Act spells clearly that we deserve overtime, irrespective of whether you are a junior or senior staff,” she noted.
“Our conditions of service also provide for overtime payment for both categories, as long as one is required to work beyond regular hours, on weekends or on holidays. We don’t understand why university management is saying that the Government of Ghana does not pay overtime for senior staff of the University of Ghana.”
She further observed that management has not provided any evidence to justify the cancellation.
“We met with university management and requested the document from government directing that senior staff are not entitled to overtime. They agreed to provide us with the letter, but as I speak now, we are yet to receive it — and that is worrying,” she added.
Another concern raised was the migration of overtime bookings from the traditional paper-based system to an online platform without adequate training for workers and supervisors.
“Supervisors have not been trained and say they cannot approve requests on the portal. We suggested that the online system should run concurrently with the hard copies until everyone is comfortable using it. Management, especially the registrar, agreed to extend this until October, but no formal communication has been issued yet.”
Also present during the briefing, FUSSAG-UG Chairman Jonathan Kabu stressed the importance of transparency and communication in management–staff relations.
“We met management, put our questions before the registrar, and were given assurances that overtime would be paid. Yet payments are being withheld without explanation. We want management to produce the letter directing the cancellation, because this move contradicts our conditions of service and breaches labour laws. If you decide to treat employees in a certain way, the least you can do is communicate it.”
Chairperson of SSA-UG, Madam Alantiya emphasized the unions’ willingness to engage with government if the directive truly originates from them.
“If this directive is truly from government, we want to see the letter so we can engage them. Until then, we have no basis for such engagement, and we assume it is not from government. If it is, then we will know the way forward.”
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Story by Oliver Acorlor Arthur|univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Michelle Lartey
