CETAG Provoked to Withdraw all Services

The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has ordered its members to suspend all services that were excluded following the declaration of the industrial action more than a month ago.

In a statement, it directed all services including the attendance to meetings, congregation ceremonies, and provision of academic counselling services as well as supervision of students in the halls of residence to be suspended.

This unanimous decision was reached during an emergency meeting of the National Council on July 23, 2024, in response to the government’s directive for their July salary to be frozen by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.

“The decision is in response to the Minister for Education’s directive to Principals and the Controller and Accountant General nor to validate the July 2024 salaries of the teaching staff of the 46 public colleges of education due to our ongoing legal strike.”

The Association deems this action by the government unlawful and has since directed the letter to their lawyers for the necessary action.

It added, “We wish to assure all members that leadership is determined to fight on until justice is served CETAG.”

Strike Declaration
CETAG declared the strike on June 14, 2024, over the failure of the government to comply with the NLC’s decisions and orders given by the Compulsory Arbitration Awards agreed by the parties.

They include an order for the payment of one-month salary to each entitled member of CETAG as compensation for additional duty performed in 2022; an order that the agreed rates of allowances payable to public universities be applied to deserving members of CETAG; and an order that the implementation of the completed Staff Audit exercise shall commence from 1st January 2023.

A letter by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department on July 22, 2024, characterised the strike by the teachers as illegal as it directed the Department to freeze their salaries.

The directive, it said, had been sanctioned by the Minister for Education, Hon Yaw Osei Adutwum.

However, the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) contends that their strike is legal and has warned against any attempt to carry on with the Minister’s directive.

In a press statement on July 22, they said, “We are by this press statement informing the public that CETAG’s strike action is legitimate since the Union followed all lay down processes before declaring the action.”