Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana has urged the government to include them in the market premium and non-basic allowances, as was recently done for their colleagues working at the civil and local government services.
According to the association, the rationale behind the introduction of the market premium defeated the purpose of the Single Spine Salary Structure, which was supposed to address gaps in the salary structure of public sector employees.
It viewed that “it was an attempt by government to further entrench the “them and us” syndrome that has “characterised the administration of public universities in Ghana”.
The National Chairman of the association, Abdul Majeed Yussif, who made the call at a press briefing in Kumasi, on Saturday, said the group observed that, the basis of the government’s introduction of market premium was academic qualification, which most of them were more qualified.
He indicated that, the association was appalled by the decision of the National Council of Tertiary Education and the Fair Wages and Salary Commission to withdraw the responsibility, entertainment and fuel allowances, which senior staff in active position enjoyed.
Mr Yussif said the decision should be reconsidered given that, the affected staff were to close the gap when there was a freeze on public sector employment as it was unfair that those allowances were withdrawn without any concern from authorities.
He called on the government to expedite action on the payment of outstanding 2010 to 2016 Tier Two Pension contributions of the group and other staff of public universities in the country.
On the Public Universities Bill, the association stated that, “we are against attempt to torpedo academic freedom; we are equally concerned that there are issues of corporate governance as far as representation on various university boards is concerned”.
It said “massing up government appointees on the university boards is an attempt to stifle challenge, balance and independence which are requirements for effective board operation”.
It called on the government to revise the content of the bill in terms of representation as broader stakeholder representation and effective stakeholder marking were required.
Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana said “as a union we deserve independent presentation rather than rotational provision made for senior and junior staff in public universities in the draft bill”.
On the migration of the payroll system of the public universities to the controller, the group cautioned that, any attempt to migrate staff without further consultations would meet resistance.
It further called on the Chief Labour Officer and the National Labour Commission to expedite action on the issuance of the association’s bargaining certificate, which had been delaying for years, to help facilitate the smooth running of the union, and to enable staff join negotiations for better conditions of service for its members.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, KUMASI
