PRESS STATEMENT BY THE TEACHER UNIONS OF THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE (GES) ON THE STRIKE WITHIN STRIKE’ We wish to update our members and the general public on the longstanding unresolved grievances of the employees of the Ghana Education Service which culminated in the declaration of a “strike within strike” on Monday, the 27th of October, 2014, by the three Teacher Unions namely the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT). Recapitulation The unresolved grievances at the centre of the controversies and industrial actions are as follows: 1. Non-payment of Incremental Credit arrears for 2011 and 2012. 2. Non-payment of vehicle maintenance allowances for 2013 and 2014. 3. Directive from Ministry of Finance and for that matter Government that only three (3) months arrears be paid to employees even if they have worked for more than the 3 months. 4. Non-renegotiation of the Collective Agreement of the employees of GES which expired in November, 2011, and 5. Non-payment of Transfer Grants to deserving teachers. The aftermath of the declaration of the “strike within strike” Since our engagement with the press, we had a meeting with the National LabourCommission on Wednesday, 29th October, 2014 at which the Minister of Finance was present. After making his presentation without giving any hope for the resolution of the issues, the National Labour Commission ruled that a Working Group be composed by the Finance Ministry to discuss the roadmap for addressing the issues. The Working Group had four meetings at the Ministry of Finance Conference Room. The Working Group had fruitful discussions for the first two days and hit a deadlock on the third day. The deadlock which centred on the 2011 and 2012 Incremental Credit was referred to another meeting scheduled for Wednesday 5th November, 2014. The representatives from the Ministry of Finance intimated that they needed to consult Cabinet because they did not have the mandate to decide on the payment schedule for the incremental credit arrears. This position of the representatives of Ministry of Finance was not taken kindly by the Unions and therefore, they did not sign the report to be sent to the National LabourCommission on Wednesday, 5thNovember, 2014. The issues regarding the Vehicle Maintenance Allowance, Transfer Grants were resolved and action had been initiated on the GIFMIS platform and it is our expectation that by the end of November 2014, the GES will be in a position to transfer the funds to the various District Offices for payment to deserving teachers. The resolution of the Non-payment of more than 3 month’s salary arrears is an on-going process and the first batch of validated forms will paid by the end of November 2014. The non-validated forms will be sent back to the GES for re-examination and those found to be valid will be re-submitted to the Finance Ministry. The remaining applicants will be paid as and when the forms are validated and approved for payment. Conclusion: In the light of above the Teacher Unions are calling off the strike action effective today, Wednesday, 5thNovember, 2014, although we are not happy with the resolution of some of issues. We thank our rank and file for the massive support they have shown during the struggle and want to assure them that we will not hesitate to resume the action if the remaining concerns are left hanging. M. V. V. K. DEMANYA ACTING GENERAL SECRETARY (GNAT) STANISLAUS P. NABOME GENERAL SECRETARY (NAGRAT) ERNEST OPOKU PRESIDENT (CCT) DATED: 5TH NOVEMBER, 2014
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 20:33:01 +0000
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