The National Labour Commission (NLC) has raised concerns over the procedure followed by the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) before embarking on its ongoing industrial action.

According to JoyNews' Stephen Mensah, sources at the Commission said, GAUA may not have complied with the legal requirements governing industrial action, particularly the obligation to notify both its employers and the NLC before commencing the strike.

The concerns come as the university administrators push for action to address what they describe as disparities in allowances and other conditions of service.

The NLC is reported to have indicated that GAUA failed to formally notify the Commission and the affected employers before withdrawing their services.

Under Ghana’s Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), parties involved in an industrial dispute are required to exhaust prescribed dispute-resolution procedures before resorting to industrial action.

Section 159 of the Act provides for written notice to be given before industrial action is undertaken.

The notice is intended to trigger a period during which the employer, the union or workers’ association, and the NLC can engage to resolve the dispute and avert industrial action.

Sources at the NLC say the required notice is important because it gives the Commission an opportunity to intervene in the dispute before workers proceed with a strike.

The development could therefore raise questions about the procedural validity of GAUA’s current industrial action, although the substantive concerns underlying the strike remain unresolved.

GAUA has maintained that it was compelled to take action after what it considers prolonged disparities in allowances between university administrators and other categories of staff.

The association has also argued that its concerns have not received the attention they deserve and that the strike is intended to compel the relevant authorities to address the disparities.

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has criticised the industrial action, describing the strike as unjustified.

GNAT says it is seeking to ensure that the dispute is resolved as quickly as possible.

The NLC’s intervention is expected to focus on both the procedural issues surrounding the strike and the underlying grievances raised by the administrators.