TEWU, other university unions give govt two-week ultimatum to restore allowances

The Tertiary Education Workers Union (TEWU) and two other university unions have given the government a two-week ultimatum to restore their six months allowances.

The two other unions are the Senior Staff Association of the University of Ghana (SSA-UoG) and the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA).

The GAUA National President Dr. Beth Offei-Awuku at a press conference in Accra on September 28 said the unions will withdraw their services across all public universities in the country if the government fails to settle their arrears by October 15, 2023.

According to Mr Offei-Awuku, the non-payment of the allowances is putting undue hardship on their members.

Meanwhile, the Organised Labour has asked its members to use the right channels when planning demonstrations by seeking police approval.

Deputy Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Joshua Ansah, said going through the right processes would give them the mandate to go ahead and protest.

“We are a law-abiding organisation. We normally write to the police the number of days that is required which is five days to the police,” Ansah said.

“The police also have the duty to respond. If they are satisfied with all the arrangements, the routes, the destination, the starting points, and the time of closing, I think that they can give us the go-ahead.”

“I don’t think the police would dream of stopping us from having our demonstration or strike after we have informed them in accordance with the law,” he stated.

TEWU has been declaring a series of strikes demanding better working conditions for its members.

It will be recalled that in August this year, TEWU asked the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to complete the negotiation for the payment of Continuous Professional and Skills Development Allowance to Non-Teaching Staff of the Ghana Education Service (GES).

In a press statement, TEWU requested that the FWSC make payment of the allowances by November 2023 after the negotiation deadline.