TEWU elects first female Deputy General Secretary

A Senior Industrial Relations Officer (IRO) of the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU-TUC), Gifty Abena Turkson, has been elected the new Deputy General Secretary of the union.

She has, thus, become the first female to occupy the Deputy General Secretary position of the union in its close to 60 years of existence.

Ms Turkson’s election follows the death of Charles Kofi Osei, who was elected at the union’s 13th Quadrennial Delegates Conference at Gomoa Fetteh in April 2024 and later passed away the same month.

Constitution

Per the union’s constitution, members of the National Executive Council of TEWU-TUC, at a two-day meeting in Accra, gave the nod for Ms Turkson to succeed Osei.  

In April 2024, the Union earlier made history by electing the first female national chairperson at the 13th Quadrennial Delegates Conference.

Until her elevation as the TEWU's new Deputy General Secretary, Ms Turkson, a dedicated labour advocate with a decade of expertise in Industrial Relations and Labour Policies, was the TEWU Eastern Regional IRO.  

She had earlier served as the IRO in the Upper West Region, where she won the Upper West Regional Overall Best Worker-TUC.

Gender

The election of Ms Turkson has changed the union’s gender balance scale in terms of the National TEWU leadership, which now has four female national officers.

Ms Turkson brings to the deputy general secretary position a strong academic foundation and professional experience in workplace advocacy, trade unionism and policy implementation.

Her key interests focus on advancing labour issues, particularly in gender equality, just transition, occupational health and safety, educational leadership, informality, industrial relations and migration.

She has built a distinguished career anchored in defending workers’ rights, deepening social dialogue and driving innovative trade union strategies at both regional and national levels.