Teachers in Ghana are to stage a series of strikes in a continuing row over salary arrears, the unions have announced.
The industrial action will start as learners prepare for their end of term examination ahead of the yuletide.
According to the three largest teaching unions, the Ghana National Association of Teachers(GNAT), NAGRAT and CCT-GH, attempts to get their arrears which spanned the period 2012-2016 has yielded no results.
The move, according to the unions is an escalation of months of series of meetings with government including the Ghana Education Service, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) to demand payment of the arrears.
“… Our checks had revealed that the arrears had been verified and approved for payment by the Controller and Accountant General’s Internal Audit three weeks earlier.
“However, we were informed that when the verified data was handed over to the GES for review, and action, the GES would not budge, because it claimed some discrepancies had been discovered with some of the payments already affected”, the group said in a joint statement.
“We gave our employer up to 5th December, 2019 to pay all the arrears due our teachers…as we talk to you this moment our plea has fallen on death ears and the status quo remains”, the statement continued.
The unions said a series of localised strikes would begin effective Monday, 9th December, 2019.
The statement said that they will not call off the strike unless the government responded positively to their demands.
Agitation over delayed strike justified
The Education Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has in the past admitted that similar strikes were justified because of the “chronic” delays that plague remuneration and other human resource concerns in the civil service.
“If you are a teacher and you are recruited but for one year, you have not been put on the salary scale I can understand. You and I will do the same”, the Minister said.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH
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