We won't work till we see improvement - TEWU

The Federation of University Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSSAG) and the Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) have resolved to carry on with their strike action till they see an upward adjustment of their salaries.

The strike, which took effect last Tuesday, attracted about 2,500 members of TEWU and FUSSAG in Kumasi demonstrated through the campus of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for about an hour. They hope to go into negotiations with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) before the close of work.

Briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi after Thursday's demonstration, Mr. Micheal Nyame, National Chairman of TEWU, said that somewhere in May, they made a submission to the CVCP. In the submission, they proposed 60 percent salary increase for workers at the Universities under its Wage Opener clause (WOC) but the CVCP promised meeting them after going into consultation with the government.

This, Mr Nyame said the CVCP did by meeting them in Accra on 13 August, but the meeting ended abruptly since they could not fathom why the 60 percent increment could be slashed to 10 percent. According to the National Chairman, at TEWU's meeting on 13 September at Winneba with the CVCP, the meeting was again postponed because the latter claim they have not got any mandate from the government as to how and when the increment was to be effected.

In the view of TEWU, this “dilly-dally” attempt by the CVCP is to frustrate both TEWU and FUSSAG as to matters more important to them and has vehemently affirmed its decision not to work till their demands are met.

As at the time of filing this report, an emergency meeting was in progress between the CVCP and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) as to how best they could adjust their salaries upwardly before the universities open next week.