By Philip Antoh
Ghana’s two major transport unions have shelved their planned sit-down strike after the government promised to act on their concerns about trading activities along the country’s road corridors.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) had announced the industrial action on November 2, 2026, to protest the authorities’ failure to clear traders off the roadways a move that was set to paralyse commercial transport services nationwide.
But with the decision to stand down, transport services will now run uninterrupted.
Commitments From Three Ministries
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, the unions said the reversal followed a meeting held the previous day, Tuesday, November 3, with the Ministers of the Interior, Transport, and Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.
According to the statement, the ministers pledged to tackle the unions’ grievances, which go beyond roadside trading to include the provision of adequate road signage, sustained public education, and continued engagement with transport operators.
“The Ministers assured us of their firm commitments to address our concerns, including the trading activities on road corridors, adequate signage, sustained public education and continued engagement with transport operators,” the statement said.
The meeting also produced a committee tasked with identifying areas affected by roadside trading and recommending measures to resolve the problem.
30-Day Ultimatum
While the strike has been called off, the unions made it clear they are keeping the government on the clock. They expect all the concerns raised to be addressed within 30 days and warned that failure to do so would leave them with no choice but to go ahead with the sit-down strike.
“It is our expectation that all our concerns raised during the meeting will be addressed within 30 days, failure of which we would have no option than to embark on the sit-down strike,” the statement warned.
The GPRTU and GRTCC commended the ministers for what they described as their prompt engagement and apologised to commuters and the public for the inconvenience the planned action could have caused.
Background
The planned nationwide strike by Ghanaian transport unions, initially scheduled for Wednesday, November 4, 2026, was driven by a conflict between automated traffic enforcement and unregulated street trading.
It will be recalled that a coalition of five major transport unions including the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) of TUC, the Commercial Transport Operators of Ghana, the True Drivers Union, the Ghana Committed Drivers Association, and the Concerned Drivers Association of Ghana jointly issued the strike notice.
The Core Conflict
The standoff emerged from the rolling out of TraffiTech-GH, a newly introduced automated digital traffic monitoring system designed to take pictures of road traffic offenses (such as speeding or wrong parking) and automatically issue fines to vehicle owners.
While the unions clarified they do not oppose digitalization or automated safety controls, they strongly protested the system’s unfair economic burden under current road conditions.
Among them was the failure to enforce regulation 142 highlighted that the government and the Ghana Police Service have failed to enforce Regulation 142 of L.I. 2519, which legally bans trading on pedestrian walkways, intersections, and bus stops.
According to the unions, because illegal traders and market stalls physically occupy designated bus stops, commercial drivers (trotros and taxis) are blocked from pulling into safe bays.
Based on this, they say drivers are forced to pick up or drop off passengers on the main road corridor, the drivers are automatically captured by the TraffiTech-GH system and heavily penalized for traffic violations they cannot physically avoid.
The unions issued an initial one-week ultimatum demanding that the Ministries of Trade, Interior, and Local Government clear the corridors, which was later extended to November 4.