Teachers’ unions are threatening a new strike if allowances are not paid before May 13

Teachers’ union leaders captured in a photo

The three Pre-Tertiary Teachers Unions in the Western and Western-Northern Regions have directed their employers, the Ghana Education Service (GES), and for that matter the Ministry of Education, to pay all their teachers until May 13, 2024 . allowances in the collective labor agreement, otherwise they will be forced to take drastic action by calling on their leadership to take immediate action.

According to the unions, “we have had enough of the employer’s nonchalance, complacency and aloofness and would therefore no longer tolerate this situation.”

Dressed in red ties and chanting slogans of near-demonstration and strike, the Western Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr. Boadu Abedi William, flanked by the Regional Chairman of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) , Mr. Justin Nelson, and Regional Chairman of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-GH), Mr. Daniel Tetteh Agbo, and other members, said this at a press conference at the GNAT Hall, Fijai in Takoradi.

It will be recalled that the three nursery teachers’ unions recently launched industrial action to secure the allowances they have been fighting for for the past fifteen years.

The teachers’ unions alleged that “the unions have not experienced peace since the inception of their collective bargaining agreement in 2009 and after the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, due to the government’s continued inability to implement the agreed allowances and fail to deliver on the promises given to come” .

According to the Regional Chairman of GNAT, Mr. Boadu Abedi William, the press conference is in solidarity with a demonstration by their comrades in the Volta Region on May 3, 2024, who presented a petition to the Volta Regional Minister for further transmission to the powers that be there are.

He reiterated that the teacher plays a crucial role in Ghana’s quest to achieve its intended educational goals.

He said that the teacher, perhaps more than anyone else, shapes and determines the outcomes of the learning processes and in fact ensures the success of the education system.

According to the teachers’ unions, they have reduced their demands from 17 to 4 due to various considerations.

They therefore expect that their employer will meet these 4 requirements, namely the disadvantaged neighborhood allowance, the extra assessment allowance, the books/data online education allowance and an upward adjustment of the CPD allowance.

He said: “Despite this good faith gesture from the unions, the government is still adamant and has shown bad faith.”

“This has often resulted in high-level despondency and dissatisfaction with leadership.”

‘We have had to walk a fine line while our members complained bitterly.

These complaints have become worse, especially as our members reel under the tremendous hardships imposed on all of us by the current economic conditions in the country.”

He added that “the last 24 months have been mostly turtles for the Ghanaian teacher, without any hope of relief from the employer’s initiative”.