Government says it is confident the concerns of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and Senior Staff Association will be resolved for them to return to post if a roadmap is adopted within the next 24 hours.

According to Deputy Minister for Employment and Labor Relations Bright Wereko Brobbey, government will meet with leaders of the two striking Unions to find a common ground even as he insists government had shown commitment to address their issues.

The two Unions, in separate demands, want government to address issues of their deteriorating conditions of service.

UTAG is demanding the implementation of a 2012 Single Spine package which put entry level lecturers on a salary of $ 2,084 while the senior staffers want the computation and release of their tier 2 Pension in arrears with interest.

"We are calling on UTAG and the Senior Staff Association to reason with us and go back to work. In the case of the Senior Staff Association, their first request was for government to pay their tier 2 funds which we did.

“Then the issue of interest comes, it involves data work and the Controller and Accountant General has been instructed to work on that", Deputy Minister for Employment and Labor relations explained on The Pulse on the JoyNews channel.

He continued that "UTAG has brought it to our attention that their salary has devalued since 2012 and they want a restoration, graciously the Finance Minister agreed and we are meeting them tomorrow.

“I am sure by the end of tomorrow we should have a better road map that will appeal to our UTAG members to go back to the lecture halls."

JoyNews checks in some major public Universities showed deserted classrooms with frustrated students urging government to resolve the issues as some Universities are nearing the end of the Academic year with examinations in sight.

A prolonged strike could completely derail the Academic calendar of the various Universities which has already been impacted by covid-19.