Three teacher unions have threatened to embark on a strike action again over their unpaid allowance.
The striking teacher unions led by Mr. Lare Kitonname general secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers for the Upper East Region chapter told the press at a joint press conference that their action is born out of government lackadaisical attitude towards the plight of teachers in Ghana.
The three unions; Association of Graduate Teachers Ghana , Ghana National Association of Teachers and the Collation of Concerned Teachers indicated that the unions shall embark on a strike if government fail to redeem the prolonged negotiations which was initiated in 2009.
“Aftermath of the 2009 and 2020 Collective Agreement
Since the negotiation of our Collective Agreement in 2009 and after the 2020 Collective Agreement, the Unions have known no peace, owing to the Government’s continued failure to implement the allowances agreed on, as well as fulfill promises given.
currently our Collective Agreement (CA) has expired since August 2023 and all efforts to get the employer on the negotiating table to agree on the new CA have proved futile. We have been contemplating on 17 types of allowances. However, due to several considerations we have reduced them to four, these are;
1.The Deprived Area allowance.
2.The Extra Assessment allowance.
3.The Book/Data/Online Teaching support allowance, and
4.Upward Adjustment of the CPD Allowance” Lare noted.
Mr. Lare Kitonname added that its collective agreement in 2009 and 2020 have not been implemented due to government’s inability to listen to the plight of the unions. They therefore gave government seven days ultimatum to address their concerns or face the wrath of the teacher unions.
“Pursuant to the above, we call on the Employer, once again, to honor its promises and commitment to our teachers by addressing our concerns over the allowances enumerated above.
Call to Action:
We wish to stress, that we have had enough of the nonchalance, complacency, and aloofness of the Employer, and would thus not countenance this situation any longer.
we wish to state in the strongest terms that, should the Employer fail to address our demands on or before May 13, 2024, we take our next line of action.
We thus call on stakeholders to support our next line of action if the government fails to meet this deadline.
Consequently, we are giving the Employer up to May 13, 2024, to address our concerns. “
Source : mywordfmonline.com/Gaspard Ayuureneeya