Govt stops POTAG salaries
The government has directed the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to freeze the salaries of the striking polytechnic teachers for the month of August and other months they will continue with their industrial action.
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According to a source at the Ministry of Education, the government was also considering whether or not to deduct from the salaries of striking polytechnic teachers pays they had collected for no work done since May 15, 2014 when they began their strike over the non-payment of their book and research allowances.
The book allowance currently stands at $1,500 per lecturer per year, while the research component stands at GH¢400.
The strike led to the closure of all polytechnics, thereby disrupting their academic calendar.
The source said it had also come to light that institutions that had nothing to do with research had been benefitting from the research allowance.
It said such institutions included the National Accreditation Board, the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Ghana Science Association of Encyclopaedia and Africana, the senior staff of the university primary schools and the National Board for Professional and Technical Examination.
Illegal
However, the Vice-President of the Greater Accra branch of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG), Mr Jones Ntiamoah, has said that it will be illegal for the government to take that decision.
Speaking to Myjoyonline.com, Mr Ntiamoah said their strike had been declared legal by the court and would, therefore, be illegal for the government to seek to freeze their salaries.
In July, this year, the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court declared that the strike embarked upon by the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) was legal.
Consequently, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Kofi Essel Mensah, asked the National Labour Commission (NLC) to enter a compulsory arbitration procedure, provided for under Regulation 26 of the National Labour Commission Regulations, 2006 (LI 1822), with POTAG to resolve the impasse.
Accordingly, Mr Justice Mensah said, the NLC was expected to enter the compulsory arbitration within 10 working days with the leadership of the lecturers.
Mr Ntiamoah said because the strike had been declared legal, he was hopeful that the teachers would receive their salaries at the end of the month, describing reports of the freeze as mere speculations.
He said the government was obligated by law to inform the teachers of its decision before such action could be taken.
He said the polytechnic teachers had resolved to fight at all cost for the resolution of their grievances.