Honour promises, commitments to teachers - 3 Teacher unions urge government

Members of three pre-tertiary teacher unions in the Upper East and Greater Accra regions have called on the government to honour its promises and commitments to teachers to improve the educational sector.

They said it was important for the government to honour commitments such as the allowances for teaching in deprived areas, extra assessment, book/data/online teaching, as well as upward adjustment of the Continue Professional Development (CPD) heeded to improve the lives of teachers, particularly, those who sacrifice to go to deprived areas.

The teacher unions are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH).

They made the call at a press conference in Bolgantaga yesterday. The event was attended by members of the three unions who were clad in red shirts with red armbands to match, ostensibly to register their displeasure against the actions of the government.

Press conference

Speaking on behalf of the three unions at separate events in Accra and Bolga, the teacher unions said after the negotiation of the Collective Agreement (CA) in 2009 and 2020, the unions have had no peace, owing to the government’s continued failure to implement allowances agreed upon.

Addressing the press in Bolga, the Regional Secretary, GNAT, Lare Kitonname, said the CA had expired since August 2023 and that all efforts to make the employer come to the negotiation table to agree on the new CA had proved futile, adding: “Although we were contemplating on 17 types of allowances, due to several considerations we reduced them to four”.

He said despite the good faith from the teacher unions, the government was still adamant and demonstrated bad faith, leading to high levels of despondency and disaffection for the unions’ leadership.

The GNAT Regional Secretary explained that they had been compelled to hang on the line with their members complaining bitterly. “These complaints have become worse, especially as our members are reeling under the utter hardship imposed on Ghanaians as a result of the current economic conditions in the country.

“We wish to emphasise that the last 24 months have been the most tortuous for Ghanaian teachers with no ray of hope of relief initiated by the employer,” he lamented.

Notice

Mr Kitonname stated that the unions had had enough of the employer’s uncooperative stance and would not countenance the situation any longer. He stated in the strongest terms that should the government fail to address the demands of the teachers on or before May 13, 2024, they would be forced to resort to their next line of action.

He emphasised that teachers played a pivotal role towards determining learning outcomes and the success of the educational system in the country’s quest to achieve its anticipated educational objectives; hence, the need for the government to show commitment towards achieving that objective by seriously showing keen interest in the welfare and development of teachers.

Accra

For his part, the Greater Accra Regional Secretary of GNAT, Peter Boateng, said since the expiration of the CA in 2023, the requisite negotiations for a new collective agreement should have been completed on or before February 29, 2024, but that had not been realised.

“As union leaders, we wish to state unreservedly that industrial harmony, requisite solidarity and cohesion among members have almost eluded us at the moment. For the avoidance of doubt, the allowances we have been calling for over the past 15 years were many,” he said.

He named four of them to include deprived area allowance, extra assessment allowance, book/data/online support allowance and upward adjustment of the CPD Allowance