Teacher Unions Negotiations Updates; Regional Unions Press Conference
Following meetings with the Government and the National Labour Commission, the Teacher Unions expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the negotiations thus far. On May 3rd, teachers in the Volta Region took to the streets to demonstrate.
Current information indicates that other regions are prepared to hold a press conference on the matter.
Some teachers are questioning their union leaders about why a strike has not been called yet, expressing feelings of being taken for granted by the government.
They assert their readiness to stay home until the government takes their demands seriously.
Teachers who participated in the demonstration in the Volta Region report that the allowances they demanded were initially 17, but have now been reduced to just 4, yet the government remains unwilling to meet their demands.
Press Conference By the Teacher Unions Today
Good morning our friends from the Media, Brothers and Sisters from the
Educational fraternity, Ladies and Gentlemen,
PREAMBLE
WE WISH TO STATE EMPHATICALLY THAT WE ARE ORGANISING THIS MEETING TO STRONGLY REAFFIRM OUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE PETITION PRESENTED BY OUR COMRADES IN THE VOLTA REGION DURING THEIR DEMONSTRATION ON FRIDAY, 3RD MAY, 2024
We have invited you here this morning to help convey our message and grievances to the Minister representing the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and by extension, the Government of Ghana.
In recent times, we, the Pre-Tertiary Teacher Unions, Ghana National Association of Teachers GNAT, National Association of Graduate Teachers NAGRAT and Coalition of Concerned Teachers of Ghana CCT-Gh have raised our voices repeatedly on the following issues to the employer, ie. Ghana Education Service which have virtually fallen on deaf ears.
We wish to reiterate that in Ghana’s quest to achieve the avowed educational objectives, the teacher plays an indispensable role. The Teacher, undoubtedly is pivotal in determining and shaping the outcomes of the learning processes, and ensures, in effect, the success of the entire education system.
EXPIRED COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
It would interest you to know that since the expiration of the Collective Agreement in 2023, the requisite negotiations for a new Collective Agreement should have been completed on or before February 29, 2024 but this has not been realized.
As Union leaders, we wish to state unreservedly that industrial harmony, requisite solidarity and cohesion among members have almost eluded us at the moment.
For the avoidance of doubt, the allowances we have been calling for over the past fifteen *(15) years were many. However, due to several considerations in line with good faith, we have reduced them to four, which include the following:
1. Deprived Area Allowance
2. The Extra Assessment Allowance
3. Book/Data/Online Support Allowance, and
4. Upward Adjustment of the CPD Allowance
Despite this gesture of good faith by the Unions, Government has not realized the need to appreciate and demonstrate same. This adamant posture by Government can no longer be tolerated in the face of these harsh economic pressures.
This has virtually culminated in high level of despondency and disaffection for leadership.
We have had to hang on thin line, with our members complaining bitterly.
These complaints have grossly accentuated, especially as our members are reeling under the utter hardship imposed on all of us by the prevailing austere economic conditions in the Country.
At this juncture, we wish to emphasize that the last 24 months have been the most arduous times for the Ghanaian Teacher, with no ray of hope of relief initiated by the Employer.
DEMANDS
We therefore, call on the Employer, once again, to honour its promises and
commitment to our teaming members by addressing our concerns over the
allowances enumerated above.
CALL TO ACTION
We wish to re-echo that we have become inundated with deliberate reluctance,
complacency, and aloofness by the Employer, a behavior which we cannot contain
any longer.
Consequently, we are giving the Employer up to May 13, 2024, to as a matter of
urgency, to address our grievances.
We wish to state emphatically that should the Employer fails to address our
grievances on or before May 13, 2024, we shall not hesitate to call on leadership to
appeal to Heaven with the utmost alacrity.
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