Teachers Embark On Nationwide Strike

 

THE GHANA pre-tertiary teacher unions, which comprises the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers of Ghana (CCT-GH), have announced a nationwide industrial action by their members with immediate effect.

This action is to register their grievances over “the delays, unfulfilled promises on the part of the employer (government) and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, (FWSC); and also threats from the rank and file of our members.”

The strike was announced at a press conference jointly addressed by Thomas T. Musah, General Secretary of GNAT; Eric Agbe-Carbonu, President of NAGRAT, and King Ali Awudu, President, CCT-GH, at the NAGRAT Headquarters in Accra yesterday.

According to them, following the expiration of the Collective Agreement in 2023, government has failed to complete negotiation for a new agreement – something they claimed should “have been completed on or before February 29, 2024.”

Despite having raised ‘this concern’ in a letter to the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), dated  February 29, 2024, and also having informed the National Labour Commission (NLC), the issue still remains unresolved till date.

The group also bemoaned the lack of ‘a functional Scheme of Service for teachers’ – a development they claim they have prompted the attention of the Director-General of the Service, and called for the development of “a much cogent and appropriate one, which takes care of all requirements in the teaching profession, but all to no avail!”

“The inability of the government and the Service to complete the distribution of the laptops to all teachers,” they added, was of great concern.

“The rampant changes of the school calendar without recourse to negotiation with the teacher unions, are affecting the smooth operation of the Service. Also, the blockage of teachers’ salaries by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) without recourse to laid down procedures is a major worry,” they stressed.

BY Nii Adjei Mensahfio

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