Government has twenty-four hours to avert a nationwide resumption of strike by pre-tertiary teacher unions.
According to the leadership of the unions, agitations are mounting among the over 300,000 teachers nationwide and government must act fast.
General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas musah Tanko, spoke exclusively with our labour correspondent Daniel Opoku in Accra on April 24, 2024.
The pre-tertiary teacher unions after calling off their strike has been upset by the slow pace of the ongoing negotiations.
Pre-tertiary teacher unions likely to resume strike by close of week
According to the leadership of the teachers, the items they tabled before government have still not been addressed.
The unions are demanding the 20 percent of basic pay for teachers in deprived areas which has not been paid for 15 years now.
They are also asking for the payment of professional development allowance of GHC1,200 a year for teachers but government is yet to comply.
“Currently, the continuous development all the gains have been eroded and government must do something about it, government must also deal with extra-curricular allowance,” Mr Tanko said.
The pre-tertiary teacher unions are upset that the foot dragging by government during the negotiations are causing agitations on their front.
Teacher unions call off strike
Mr Tanko who spoke on behalf of the teacher unions said, government should act fast to prevent any strike.
“The teachers have gotten to their elastic limit. Please we are sounding a warning that don’t take this thing lightly, we as leaders have sounded the warning, if managers take it lightly they should blame themselves,” he asserted.
He was also disturbed that those who attend the negotiations from the Finance Ministry do not have the mandate to take binding decisions.
“The Ministry of Finance seem not to appreciate the magnitude of the case, the person they send cannot talk and that is affecting the negotiations,” he explained.
By Daniel Opoku