The Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) has gone on a nationwide strike from January 29, 2024, over what they have described as poor working conditions following the alleged disregard for their conditions of service by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).
The strike is in succession to the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana’s (SSA-UoG) ongoing strike, which began earlier for similar reasons after a dissatisfactory meeting with the National Labour Commission (NLC) over certain unpaid allowances and arrears.
In response to GTEC and FWSC’s apathy towards their work conditions, the administrators announced a strike action during an engagement with the media.
According to the General Secretary of the association, Richard Afriyie, the strike would proceed despite an arranged meeting with the NLC which would be scheduled for Wednesday, 31st January, 2024. The strike would only meet its end provided that their concerns are adequately addressed.
“We have directed our people to lay down their tools until further notice. So until then, we are beginning it. There hasn’t been any disregard for any directive. We have been asked to appear before NLC to discuss the matter on Wednesday.”
“We have not yet gone to appear before them to know what is in store for us. And we cannot just call off by any opinion or based on any emotion or whatever. It is a collective decision we have taken, and we need to comply with that,” he said.
The GAUA strike has already seen effect on university campuses nationwide as students have been denied administrative services for their personal concerns.
Some university basic schools have announced temporal closure following their strike until a resolution is formed, with notable examples such as the University of Ghana Basic School (UBS) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Basic School (KNUST-BS).
In the meantime, developments on the GAUA strike action will depend on the outcome of their meeting with the NLC.
The recent strike action has raised concerns over government’s failure to adequately address the work conditions of the labour force in Ghana, considering that the University Teachers Association of Ghana had also earlier threatened a strike action within the month.
