CETAG Resumes Strike over Conditions of Service
After reluctantly suspending their industrial action nine months ago as a condition for the implementation of an Arbitral Award Order, the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has resumed the strike.
This time around, the Association says it will not call it off until the deal is implemented by the employer according to the stipulated agreement.
The strike, it said, is aimed at safeguarding their economic rights as workers under Article 24 (1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and section 10 (a&b) of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).
“The union wishes to affirm our decision to proceed on strike by notifying our Employer that we will not call off our strike action until all the outstanding Compulsory Arbitration Awards and related concerns raised in this notice are settled through payments to our members.”
Cause
The teachers are registering their displeasure at the refusal of stakeholders including the National Labour Commission (NLC), the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the Finance Ministry to ensure the implementation of the Compulsory Arbitration Order by the NLC for a new Condition of Service for colleges of education teachers.
Additionally, the teachers are grieving over the non-payment of top-up research allowance in arrears and the varying of their existing office-holding positions and allowances.
“That, FWSC and the Ministry of Education have deliberately refused to pay to deserving members of CETAG a top-up of research allowance as arrears arising from the 2023 Conditions of Service (CoS) Agreement signed with Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) which had approval from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in July 2023 with an ending date of 31st December, 2024.”
“That, the Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF) and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) have unilaterally varied our existing office-holding positions and allowances in violation of our 2023 Conditions of Service (CoS) Agreement signed with the FWSC which had approval from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in July 2023 with an ending date of December 2024.”
