A looming public sector strike that has already alarmed the government is growing in scope. The Local Government Service Workers Union (LGSWU) has announced it stands ready to join the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) in a nationwide industrial action from March 9, 2026, if the government continues to delay implementing an agreed salary structure that has been stalled for more than three years.
CLOGSAG’s National Executive Council announced the strike at a press conference in Accra on February 19, 2026, after a meeting to assess the state of negotiations on the unique salary structure for staff of the Civil Service and Local Government Service. Executive Secretary Isaac Bampoe Addo said negotiations on the matter dated back to 2019, culminating in the signing of two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with government. The government initially agreed to implement the structure from January 1, 2023, then pushed the date to January 1, 2025, and again failed to act.
“Come January 1, 2025, nothing happened. Promises upon promises, government has not been able to fulfil its promises,” Addo said, adding that repeated reminders to the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) had produced no substantive response.
The LGSWU’s decision to align with the action amplifies the pressure considerably. The union made its position clear: if the government does not demonstrate genuine movement on the enhanced salary structure and improved conditions of service before the March 9 deadline, it will withdraw its members from service alongside CLOGSAG. The two bodies together represent a significant share of the workforce that runs Ghana’s civil service institutions and local government assemblies across the country.
Labour Minister Dr Rashid Pelpuo has publicly appealed to CLOGSAG to rescind the decision, saying the government is working to address the concerns and insisting the objective can be achieved without a strike. Speaking to Citi News, Dr Pelpuo acknowledged being caught off guard by the strike notice even as negotiations were ongoing. “This strike has taken us by surprise. I will urge them not to go on strike but to believe the promise we made to get them what they want,” he said.
The minister confirmed he had held discussions with the Finance Minister on the matter and described the government’s engagement as serious, while cautioning that economic decisions of this nature are not resolved at short notice.
CLOGSAG has formally notified the National Labour Commission (NLC) of its intended action, satisfying the procedural requirement under Ghana’s labour laws. The association has been clear that the ball is now in the government’s court and that only concrete steps, not further assurances, will be sufficient to avert the action.
With 16 days remaining before the deadline, the pressure on the Finance Ministry to produce a credible payment arrangement is intensifying. A simultaneous withdrawal of civil service and local government workers would create widespread disruption to public administration at a time when the government is already managing overlapping pressure from the cocoa sector, a customs revenue scandal, and ongoing debates over public sector wage obligations.
