Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has declared the resumption of another strike from today, Friday, January 6.
The Association has listed five reasons that have necessitated the current strike, blaming all on government.
“Following a meeting held between the Government Team and CETAG on 4th January, 2023 over the outstanding issues of CETAG, the National Council of CETAG met to evaluate what transpired and concluded that the strike action which was suspended on 17th December, 2022 shall resume on Friday, January 6, 2023 if the two days grace period given to the Minister expires without a resolution of the outstanding issues,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
CETAG claimed the Minister of Education has failed to resolve the outstanding issues he promised to deal with within two weeks from December 16, 2022.
“CETAG can no longer trust the assurances given by the stakeholders to seek further financial mandate for the three outstanding generic allowances since all previous assurances were never fulfilled,” it stated.
The teaching staff ended a five-week industrial strike in December last year, trusting government to implement their agreed 2022 conditions of service.
In a letter signed by the association’s national president, Prince Himah, he assured members of the leadership’s resolve to negotiate better conditions of service.
“Leadership promise to go to all length so that CETAG will get the best out of the engagement that is going to ensue as we suspend our destiny strike today, hoping the Minister and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission shall take the necessary steps as promised to bring finality to bear on all the unresolved issues of CETAG,” portions of the statement read.
Find CETAG’s reasons for strike below
CETAG TO RESUME SUSPENDED STRIKE ACTION
Following a meeting held between the Government Team and CETAG on 4th January, 2023 over the outstanding issues of CETAG, the National Council of CETAG met to evaluate what transpired and concluded that the strike action which was suspended on 17th December, 2022 shall resume on Friday, January 6, 2023 if the two days grace period given to the Minister expires without a resolution of the outstanding issues.
The reasons for the resumption of the suspended strike action are as follows:
- All the outstanding issues contained in the communiqué signed on 16th December, 2022 which the Hon. Minister promised to resolve within two weeks after the suspension of the strike by CETAG remains unresolved to date.
- The FWSC never took any steps to seek financial mandate from the Finance Ministry for the three outstanding generic allowances as promised at the meeting held on 21st December, 2022 at the Ministry of Education premises which was chaired by the Director, Tertiary at the Ministry.
- The effective date of January 2023 which the Government Team wants to unilaterally impose on CETAG instead of the mutually agreed effective date of January 2022 is totally unacceptable. Council unanimously rejects it and demands for the original and mutually agreed effective date of January 2022 for CETAG’s 2021 Conditions of Service which the parties settled on at the beginning of the negotiations in August 2021.
- CETAG can no longer trust the assurances given by the stakeholders to seek further financial mandate for the three outstanding generic allowances since all previous assurances were never fulfilled.
- GTEC has failed to disclose to CETAG the amount it has proposed to be paid as all-year-round work compensation as well as the time the payment shall be made.
Conclusively, Council wishes to inform CETAG members across the 46 public colleges of education that the resumption of the suspended strike action is imminent as the stakeholders have not attached the needed seriousness to CETAG’s CoS concerns for over two years now.