The Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Dr George Smith-Graham, has expressed surprise that the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) remains on strike despite signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to allow further discussions on its concerns about salary disparities.

Speaking on the JoyNews AM Show on Monday, October 12, he said the Commission had concluded negotiations with GAUA and the association had been paid, but agreed to consider fresh proposals to address the disparities.

Dr Smith-Graham said the government, through the FWSC and the Ministry of Finance, was working to correct inequalities under the Single Spine Salary Structure across public sector institutions. He added that 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.

He attributed GAUA’s dissatisfaction to its belief that the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) had secured better terms in its negotiations with the government.

“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 said.

The FWSC CEO said GAUA representatives visited his office about a week earlier, where both parties agreed that the association would submit proposals for consideration.

“When GAUA raised the issue, GAUA came to my office about a week ago. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding with me,” he said.

“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.”

Dr Smith-Graham said he expected GAUA to call off the strike after signing the MoU, but was surprised to learn on Friday that the industrial action was continuing.

“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 said. “That really surprised me, because they came to sign an MoU with me.”

He said the Commission would review GAUA’s proposals and respond by the end of October, maintaining that the earlier negotiations had been concluded and the agreed payments made.