The National Labour Commission (NLC) is set to engage with the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Public Universities in Ghana (SSA-UoG) and the Federation of Universities Senior Staff (FUSSAG) today, Wednesday, January 24, to address their ongoing strike.

The strike which has lasted for one week is a response to the government's alleged failure to address concerns related to pensions and the claimed wrongful cancellation of overtime allowances.

The purpose of the meeting is to facilitate mediation between the unions and relevant stakeholders, aiming to bring an end to the strike initiated by the groups.

The Associations assert that their appeals for the payment of their two-tier pension and overtime allowance have been ignored, prompting the strike.

The strike has resulted in the withdrawal of various services, impacting areas such as healthcare, administration, and security, affecting final-year students who require strict supervision from senior technicians during practical sessions.

Meanwhile, the NLC has insisted that the ongoing industrial action by the Associations is impeding efforts to address their grievances.

Speaking to JoyNews, the Executive Secretary of the NLC, Mr. Ofosu Asamoah, said that his attempts to persuade the striking group to abandon the industrial action in favour of negotiations have been unsuccessful.

He believed that prolonging the strike would derail efforts to resolve their issues.

Mr. Asamoah consequently expressed hope that the Senior Staff would call off their strike immediately to make room for a scheduled meeting next week.

“There has been a complaint and a response, so we now have to bring the parties together and see the way forward. Either the Commission will settle it summarily, or there will be mediation or an arbitration.

“So the two parties must come together, then, with the Commission's assistance, we look at the thing and see the issue at stake, and that's why we invited them.

"Unfortunately, the senior staff are saying that they committed to their schedule so they couldn't come, but they can make it on the 24th, and we communicated to the other party.