The Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) says its nationwide strike remains in force despite a meeting with Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu to address the union’s outstanding concerns.
The union leadership, however, has given itself 48 hours to consult its members on the outcome of the meeting before deciding whether to suspend the industrial action.
“Yes, members. The strike is ongoing. We have assured the Minister that we’ll get back to our constituents and get back to him after 48 hours. So, that is the message,” a union representative said.
The meeting brought together representatives of GAUA, the Technical University Senior Administrators Association of Ghana (TUSAAG), Vice-Chancellors Ghana and the Ministry of Education as the parties sought to resolve the dispute.
Unions demand concrete action
Among the issues raised by the unions are salary adjustments and market premium disparities, job evaluation, conditions of service, outstanding allowances, retirement arrangements, staff placement and equivalence.
Mr Iddrisu appealed to the unions to give the government one month to work towards resolving their concerns.
“I want you to give me one month to resolve the issues, and I want you to furnish me with the data to help the resolution,” the Minister said.
He also called for an end to the disruption of activities on university campuses.
“I want us to have industrial harmony on all university campuses.”
GAUA, however, says assurances from government will not be sufficient to persuade its members to immediately suspend the strike.
The association has previously expressed frustration over engagements with successive governments, saying previous commitments have failed to produce lasting solutions to its grievances.
GAUA Secretary Charles Aidoo said members were now demanding tangible results.
“We’ve been there before when we signed an MOU with the former Minister for Education. But nothing came up to it. So we’ve been there before. And we want to see real results,” he said.
He added that members remained determined to pursue their demands.
“Our members are resolute. Because we’ve taken this for far too long. The cheating has been there for far too long. And our members are simply not happy. They want to see results.”
GTEC orders senior university officials back to work
The development comes as the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has directed senior management officials of public universities to return to work.
According to GTEC, officials occupying senior management positions are not eligible to participate in industrial action.
The directive covers positions including Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Directors of Finance, Directors of Internal Audit, Directors of Health Services and other executive and managerial roles.
GTEC has given Vice-Chancellors 48 hours to submit registers of senior management officials who fail to comply with the directive.
Strike affects university activities
The industrial action has already disrupted activities at some public universities, with the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) and other institutions reportedly suspending scheduled examinations.
GAUA has also questioned the conduct of examinations during the strike, raising concerns about whether established procedures are being followed.
The association’s General Secretary said the integrity of examinations conducted during the industrial action could be compromised.
“We want to tell the general public that the integrity of the examinations being conducted in our universities is questionable, because the procedures and the processes leading to the examinations have been sidelined,” he said.
Decision expected within 48 hours
GAUA described its engagement with the Education Minister as positive and fruitful but maintained that the final decision on whether to suspend the strike rests with its members.
The union will therefore return to its constituents over the next 48 hours to discuss the government’s proposals and determine the way forward.
“We are going to meet our constituents, and within 48 hours, we will see whether we will call off the strike or not,” a union representative said.
For now, the nationwide strike remains in force, leaving government and university authorities with a limited window to resolve the outstanding concerns and prevent further disruption to academic activities.
