CK Tedam University staff suspends strike over payroll issues

Worker unions of the C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Navrongo the Upper East Region have suspended their strike.

The unions embarked on the industrial action on November 16, 2021, over delays in the payments of salaries and attempts by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (G-TEC) to migrate them onto the payroll of the Controller and Accountant General's Department.

The workers, made up of members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana, the Ghana Association of University Administrators, Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana, and the Teachers and Educational Workers' Union, say government has failed to fulfil a memorandum of understanding signed in August this year hence, the resumption of the industrial action .

However, speaking to Citi News, the President of the university's branch of UTAG, Dr. Jonas Bugase, said the stakeholders involved have demonstrated good fate in addressing their concerns; thus the suspension of the strike.

“We had to suspend the strike at the signatory campus due to some goodwill demonstrated by some university management, GTEC and other stakeholders with regard to prompt payment of salaries and measures put in place to migrate us to the Controller and Accountants General Department. Management also said plans are far advanced and that they have put in place measures to pay us on time pending governing council’s approval. It is based on these that we have decided to exercise good faith to suspend our strike, so stakeholders carry out the measures put in place to bring an end to this impasse.”

Earlier, in a letter to the Education Minister, the unions complained that resolutions that led to the suspension of their previous strike in August were not honored.

They however petitioned the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) over concerns about their salaries and conditions of service.

After the meeting, the Council said it is hopeful that the striking workers of the S.D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated development Studies and the C.K Tedam University of Technology and Allied Sciences will return to post soon.

The Deputy Director General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, Dr. Ahmed Jinapor in a Citi News interview said a roadmap has been outlined to address the delay in the payment of salaries of the staff which is the basis for the strike.

“We had a very fruitful and honest discussion. The bedrock of the strike is the delay, not the non-payment of salaries. For us as a commission, our interest is that things are done right and properly. Moving forward, we have a road map in addressing the concerns,” he said.

—citinewsroom