TEWU suspends strike
Members of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) have suspended the indefinite strike they declared over the failure of government to pay their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) allowance.
The suspension of the strike followed an emergency meeting held yesterday at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations involving representatives of TEWU, the Ministry of Finance, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the GES.
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Communiqué
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said the parties agreed that a joint technical committee set up in 2021 would meet to commence deliberations on issues related to the union’s members, including the Continuous Professional Development Allowance.
The communiqué was signed by the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Bright Wireko-Brobbey; the acting Chief Executive of the FWSC, Mr Benjamin Arthur; the Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa; the National Chairman of TEWU, Mr Ambrose Y. Kwadzodza and the General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Mark Korankye,
The parties agreed that the preliminary meeting of the committee would commence today, Thursday, January 6, 2022, adding that the “committee shall meet on Monday, January 10, 2022 to deliberate on the issues.”
When contacted, Mr Korankye said the strike remained suspended pending the final outcome of the committee’s deliberations.
For his part, Prof Opoku-Amankwa urged all students to report to school in order to take part in the end of semester examination because all the issues raised by the TEWU were being attended.
Strike
Members of TEWU last Tuesday said they were withdrawing their services effective Wednesday, January 5, 2022 over the non-payment of their CPD allowance since 2020.
They said although teachers had been paid their allowance, non-teaching staff, made up of TEWU members, had not been paid in spite of several reminders to the government.
"We, therefore, wish to inform the government and its agencies, parents and the Ghanaian public that as schools reopen today, January 5, 2022, they should not expect any of the non-teaching staff to be at post.
“These would include but not limited to domestic bursars, matrons, cooks, pantry hands, labourers, cleaners, administrators, accountants, librarians, logistics and supply officers, internal auditors, etc.," Mr Korankye told a press conference in Accra.