Courts face shutdown as JUSAG threaten indefinite strike over unpaid arrears

Judicial service workers across Ghana are to lay down their tools from Monday, 19 January, in an open-ended nationwide strike over eight months of unpaid salary arrears.

The industrial action, announced by the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), is expected to severely disrupt court business, with registries, bailiffs and other key administrative staff withdrawing their services.

In a formal notice to the National Labour Commission, JUSAG said its members could no longer endure what it called an “unbearable” situation created by government’s failure to honour a salary commitment dating back to last year.

At issue is a 10% increase in base pay for 2025, approved by the President for all public sector workers and backdated to 1 January 2025. While other categories of staff on the government payroll received the upward adjustment early, judicial service workers only saw the new rate reflected in their salaries from September 2025.

According to JUSAG, government pledged that arrears covering January to August 2025 would be settled “not later than the 2025 fiscal year”. That promise, the union says, has been repeatedly missed despite several follow-up engagements.

The association says management gave written assurance on 16 December 2025 that the outstanding arrears would be cleared before the end of the month, but no payment was made.

“The festive month of December was one of the most difficult moments for staff who were very expectant, only to be met with shock and disappointment,” JUSAG’s letter noted.

Following an emergency meeting, the union’s National Executive Council resolved that staff, described as “critical to the maintenance of law, order and stability”, would withdraw their services indefinitely.

The strike, JUSAG insists, will continue until all eight months of salary arrears are fully paid.