The industrial action, declared indefinite and effective immediately, arises from a dispute over overtime allowances. The union alleges that the FWSC has failed to honour a 2021 agreement to compensate senior staff for overtime work. Instead, the University of Ghana replaced the overtime payments with a “call-in allowance” last year, sparking dissatisfaction and prompting the current strike.

In addition to the overtime issue, the strike is compounded by unpaid salary arrears for staff at UniMAC (formerly NAFTI, GIL, and GIJ) and delayed tier-two pension contributions. The union has called for urgent resolution of these concerns.

Union leaders, including USSA-UG Chairperson Gladys Alantiya, emphasized that industrial action is a last resort, taken only because the government has failed to address their demands.

Speaking to Adom News, Madam Alantiya explained that the leadership is personally visiting departments to ensure compliance with the work stoppage.

“We do not take delight in industrial action, but we must be treated fairly,” she said.

She added that the strike will continue until the government resolves the outstanding issues, after which the union will call off the industrial action and allow members to resume work.

The USSA leadership warned that the unrest could escalate if the government does not engage in meaningful dialogue to resolve these long-standing grievances.

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According to the GAUA, the strike is over the disregard for their conditions of service by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.

The General Secretary of the Association, Richard Afriyie said they are still embarking on the strike although the National Labour Commission (NLC) has invited the leadership for a meeting on Wednesday.

“We have directed our people to lay down their tools until further notice. So until then, we are beginning it. There hasn’t been any disregard for any directive. We have been asked to appear before NLC to discuss the matter on Wednesday.

“We have not yet gone to appear before them to know what is in store for us. And we cannot just call off by any opinion or based on any emotion or whatever, It is a collective decision we have taken, and we need to comply with that,” he said.

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