TEWU begins strike; public universities to suffer

Members of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) will from today Monday, embark on a nation-wide strike following what they called, unfair treatment by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission. TEWU said for years, the disparities in the salaries of both junior and senior staff members of public universities have not been addressed by the Commission. A statement from TEWU urged all its members not to report to work today till their grievances are addressed. “Since Fair Wages and Salaries Commission have not been fair with us and have failed to carry out its part of the agreement after the submission of the committee’s report since June 2015, the union held a press conference on 10th December 2015, giving Fair Wages and Salaries Commission up to December 2015 ending to implement the said decision.” The statement added that “as we speak today, these decisions have not been implemented by Fair wages and Salaries Commission leaving us with no option than to advise ourselves. On the basis of the above, the national union TEWU calls on its rank and file in the public universities to lay down their tools with effect from Monday 18th January 2015 until further notice.” Members of TEWU are generally dissatisfied with the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
The dissatisfaction resulted in the formation of a committee to review and make recommendations on the implementation of the SSSS. The committee’s report revealed that there was a real gap between the Junior and Senior staff that needed to be bridged among other things. But the Commission failed to act on the committee’s recommendations, after accepting that the Union’s concerns were genuine, hence a strike in September 2013. Based on numerous appeals and assurances from the Commission, the strike was suspended after which TEWU, the Commission and the Vice Chancellors’ Ghana, agreed to bridge the gap between Junior and Senior staff of the public universities. But TEWU said the Fair Wages Commission has not fulfilled its promise, hence their latest decision to embark on a strike.