Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu is expected to meet with the leadership of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) this week as the government works to find a solution to the association’s ongoing strike.
GAUA is protesting differences in Market Premium and other allowances paid to teaching and non-teaching senior staff at public universities.
The association says these differences are unfair and wants the government to address them.
Speaking in an interview, the Education Minister’s spokesperson, Hashmin Mohammed, said the Minister would meet GAUA alongside the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to discuss the issue and find a solution.
“I think that meeting should happen sometime this week so that we can find a solution to this issue,” he said.
However, GAUA says it wants the meeting to result in clear and practical steps to address its concerns, rather than receiving more promises from the government.
Michael Owusu Ansah, President of the University of Ghana chapter of GAUA, said the association was no longer willing to depend on assurances from the government.
He accused the government of not showing enough commitment to resolving the concerns of workers in the tertiary education sector who are currently on strike.
“If it is going to be ‘trust me and give me time and I will come back to you,’ I’m afraid this time GAUA may not be persuaded by words,” he said.
The meeting is therefore expected to focus mainly on the differences in Market Premium payments, as well as other issues that have led to the ongoing strike by GAUA.
