Students at the University of Ghana or those planning to start studies there in the next academic year should expect some disruptions from January 2022.

This is because lecturers there have rejected agreements reached between the national leadership and government over their conditions of service.

In a strongly worded letter to UTAG National, the UG branch says the $1600 each agreed for research allowance, and entry point salary value for lecturers cannot be accepted.

It’s been a long-running battle between lecturers of the country’s public universities and government over their conditions of service.

UTAG is demanding the implementation of a 2012 Single Spine package which puts entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2084.

But negotiations have been checkered with UTAG threatening industrial actions.

In August, they were forced to call off their strike following a court order as the National Labour Commission (NLC) triggered a compulsory arbitration process.

That did not achieve much until emergency talks between UTAG’s negotiating team and government representatives led to some agreements this week. But UTAG members are rejecting them.

In a letter to the UTAG leadership, UTAG-UG says it overwhelmingly rejects the said amount of $1600 payable by 2024, agreed in the Memorandum of Agreement by the UTAG Negotiation Team and accepted by the National Executive Committee of UTAG, as research allowance.

UTAG-UG contends that in place of $1600 agreed, its members shall only accept the cedi equivalent, which it says represents lecturers’ entry point salary value in 2013.

UTAG-UG has already served notice it will embark on strike starting in January 2022, when the academic year is scheduled to begin unless its demand is met.

UTAG-UG also says it is awaiting the outcome of the Labor Market Survey scheduled for December 2021 to resume negotiations with government on the Market Premium and Basic Salary.

And finally, it demands that the negotiating team be reconstituted to draw on the expertise of members selected across public universities to ensure professional discussions during negotiations and quality outcomes beneficial to UTAG Members.