The Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) has officially declared an indefinite strike following the government’s failure to meet agreed conditions of service.
In an official media declaration on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, the University of Ghana (UG) Chapter Chairperson of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana, Gladys Atlantiya, speaking on behalf of the National Chairperson, George Ansong, announced the strike action.
According to her, the decision was triggered by the removal of overtime payments for senior staff, which has been converted into a call-in allowance by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).
“The Senior Staff Association, Universities of Ghana, signed an agreement with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and for that matter the government, which states in part that the senior staff of public universities qualify for an overtime allowance. This agreement has been in force since 2021. Only last year in May, the University of Ghana decided to stop the payment of overtime allowance and replace it by what they call ‘call-in allowance’.”
She explained that the reason given for this change was that the University of Ghana allegedly lacks the financial resources to sustain such payments. As a result, the Audit Service reportedly rejects the overtime entries, forcing the union to threaten industrial action.
“Their reason being that the UG does not have the financial resources to pay, and any time they put it into their payroll, the Audit Service rejects it. The university’s attention was drawn to the signed agreement with government, but they ignored the concerns raised. As a result of the above challenge and defiance from UG, the unions threatened to embark on an industrial action.”
She further revealed that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission subsequently brought a case against the unions, accusing the Senior Staff Association of breaching the terms of their negotiations.
“At the next meeting with the NLC on 19 November 2025, the unions were expecting the UG to report on their engagement with the Audit Service, only to be told that the Fair Wages had brought a case against the unions, that we had breached a deadlock in our negotiations, so we should defend ourselves. The Fair Wages added that they testified in error the last time they came, and that senior staff in public universities do not qualify for overtime allowance.
We were expecting the NLC to allow the UG to report on their engagement that day. To our dismay, the case was pushed aside, and the complainant now became the accused. Very sad.”
She also highlighted the government’s failure to pay outstanding arrears, noting that staff of the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC) have not received their due allowances following the merger of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), and the Ghana Institute of Languages (GIL) into a single university.
“Failure of the government to pay arrears of salaries and other allowances, pending four years of upgrading of the National Film and Television Institute, Ghana Institute of Languages, and Ghana Institute of Journalism into a full-fledged university, which is now UniMAC. Despite numerous correspondences, meetings, and assurances, the unions petitioned the Labour Commission to intervene after the Minister of Finance refused to respond to our letter. The NLC subsequently wrote on 6 November 2025 to the Ministry to respond to our claim within seven days. As we speak, from 6 November to date, there has still been no response.”
Another major concern raised was the government’s failure to remit Tier 2 pension contributions. The association is therefore demanding that the government pays the statutory 3 percent penalty for delays, as required by law.
“Failure of government to pay five months—that is, August to December 2024—of our Tier 2 contributions to our fund managers. Our Tier 2 contributions are our heartbeat, since that is the only money we can invest now to improve upon our retirement when we leave the services of the university.
We do not compromise on anything that will cause a delay in remitting our contributions to our fund managers for subsequent investments. We are also demanding the 3 percent penalty for failing to pay at the stipulated time in accordance with the regulations of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA).”
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Story by Anita Azawodie | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Gabriel Tecco Mensah
