Workers’ unions of the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDDUBIDS) have embarked on an industrial strike action.

The unions consist of University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), Senior Staff Association Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) and the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU).

They have explained that this is phase one of the strike. It involves lock down of offices and lecture halls.

It would be recalled that the unions called off their local strike action on August 2 this year, following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with the relevant government agencies.

According to the unions in a joint press statement, their recent decision is as a result of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and SDD UBIDS Management's failure to adhere to the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed on August 17, 2021.

The November 16 press release indicated that the Controller and Accountant General’s Department was supposed to "install at various campuses an IPPD2 application software, finance directorates and personnel to be trained on the use of the IPPD2 system" and "undertake a three-month test run with existing payroll data, parallel to the present payroll systems of the individual campuses so as to rectify all discrepancies."

All these, the unions said have not been executed almost four months since these directives were issued.

Also, payment of monthly salary to staff of SDDUBIDS and C.K Tedam University Teachers Association (CKT UTAS) has been problematic.

According to the unions, their members were to receive their salaries through UDS but the process has stalled, thus members now receive their pay two weeks into the next month.

"As at today (16th of November, 2021), some staff have still not received their October salaries," they added.

This shortfall, they contend, has plunged members into economic hardship, affecting several families.

"...It has generated simmering tensions in our university and if nothing is done and the situation persists, it could escalate into a national security issue," they decried.

The unions said management has been reminded of its obligations, however, no satisfactory response has been received. Thus, the decision to start with phase one of the strike.