The General Secretary of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), Charles Jojo Aidoo, has maintained that appeals from the Minister of Education will not be sufficient to end the association’s ongoing industrial action, insisting that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission must engage the union and conclude negotiations on its outstanding conditions of service.
Mr Aidoo said the association expected the Commission to resume discussions and reach an agreement on the unresolved matters, emphasising that direct negotiations rather than appeals to return to work were necessary to secure a lasting settlement.
“We expect Fair Wages to call us and conclude whatever negotiation they want to do with us,” he said ahead of a meeting with the Ministry of Education on Monday, October 12, 2026.
He explained that the union anticipated that the Education Minister would use the meeting primarily to persuade its members to return to their offices, rather than negotiate directly on the outstanding demands that had prompted the strike.
“Our expectation from him is to maybe appeal to us to go back to the office, and we’ve consistently told him that we respect him so much, but respect doesn’t put food on our table,” Mr Aidoo added.
His remarks underscore the association’s position that the dispute cannot be resolved through appeals alone, particularly while issues relating to approved allowances and employment conditions remain unsettled.
GAUA embarked on the industrial action following what it described as the government’s failure to pay allowances that had been negotiated and approved. The association says unsuccessful attempts to resolve the matter through negotiations left its members with little option but to withdraw their services.
The strike, which is approaching its second month, has disrupted administrative operations at public universities across Ghana. Essential services affected include admissions processing, student registration and accommodation arrangements, creating difficulties for university management and students preparing for the academic year.
The association has also raised concerns about disparities in allowances and other aspects of its members’ conditions of service, maintaining that the outstanding issues require substantive engagement with the appropriate negotiating authority.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is therefore central to efforts to resolve the impasse, as GAUA expects the Commission to engage its leadership and bring the outstanding negotiations to a conclusion.
The meeting with the Ministry of Education is expected to examine possible avenues for resolving the dispute and restoring normal administrative operations at public universities. However, Mr Aidoo’s comments indicate that any appeal by the Minister for members to resume work will need to be accompanied by meaningful progress on the association’s outstanding demands.
Until negotiations produce an acceptable resolution, the prospect of ending the strike remains uncertain, with university administrators continuing to press for action on the allowances and conditions of service at the centre of the dispute.
