By Prince Ahenkorah
The Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Dr George Smith-Graham, says he is surprised the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) is continuing its strike despite signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Commission to allow further discussions on salary disparities.
Speaking on JoyNews’, Dr Smith-Graham said negotiations with GAUA had been concluded and the association had received its agreed payments, but the Commission had agreed to consider fresh proposals to address its concerns.
He explained that the government had prioritised efforts to correct disparities in the Single Spine Salary Structure, with the FWSC and the Ministry of Finance working to address inequalities across public sector institutions.
According to him, negotiations had been concluded with 58 institutions, including GAUA.
“We have concluded negotiations with 58 institutions, including GAUA. We have signed an agreement with GAUA, concluded the negotiations with GAUA, and they have been paid,” he said.
Dr Smith-Graham attributed GAUA’s decision to continue the industrial action to dissatisfaction over the terms secured by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) in its negotiations with the government.
He said GAUA became concerned after learning that UTAG had negotiated a separate agreement, which the administrators believed offered better terms.
“Immediately they noticed that UTAG had also come for their negotiations, then they said UTAG got more than them; and because UTAG got more than them, they declared a strike,” he stated.
The FWSC CEO disclosed that GAUA representatives had visited his office about a week earlier, during which both parties signed an MoU to provide room for further discussions on the association’s concerns.
“When GAUA raised the issue, GAUA came to my office about a week ago. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding with me,” he said.
He added that he had asked the association to submit proposals outlining how the perceived inequalities could be addressed.
“I said, give me some proposals on how we can resolve these inequities. We are also interested in resolving the inequities. We will study your proposal,” he stated.
Dr Smith-Graham stressed that the agreement to consider fresh proposals did not mean the earlier salary negotiations with GAUA remained unresolved.
He said he had expected the association to call off its strike following the understanding reached at the meeting, which was intended to give the Commission time to examine its proposals.
The CEO said he was therefore surprised to learn on Friday that the strike was still ongoing.
“They signed that we are going to call off the strike, that they are giving us the time, only for me to hear on Friday that ‘we are still on strike’,” he lamented.
“That really surprised me, because they came to sign an MoU with me.”
Dr Smith-Graham reiterated the Commission’s commitment to examining GAUA’s proposals and responding by the end of October.
He maintained that the earlier negotiations had been concluded and the agreed payments made, while expressing readiness to consider further measures to address the association’s concerns over salary disparities.