Govt, teachers clinch deal
After a three-day crunch meeting at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations between government representatives and teacher unions, the two parties have clinched a deal for the latter to call off their intended strike scheduled after Monday, February 29, 2016.
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The teachers had served notice that if their grievances were not met by Monday, they would declare a strike the following day.
It was all smiles, sighs of satisfaction and good gestures as the parties from both sides signed a six-point communique, followed by handshakes and fraternal interactions.
Signing of the deal
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, signed on behalf of the government and witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and the Chief Executive of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Mr George Smith-Graham, while the General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr David Ofori Acheampong, signed on behalf of the teacher unions and witnessed by the President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr Christian Addai-Poku, and the President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-GH), Mr King Ali Awudu.
Six-point communique
Reading the communique, Mr Iddrisu, who led the government delegation, said both parties and the Ghana Audit Service “will move off-site to validate all the data in respect of salary arrears and other allowances and submit a report on verified data to the government for payment”.
“That the team going off-site should validate the 2013/14 salary arrears of newly recruited teachers from the colleges of education and submit a report on same by Monday, February 29, 2016 for consideration and payment as a matter of priority,” he read out.
Mr Iddrisu said the parties also agreed that where it was necessary, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department would process supplementary payment in accordance with the validated data.
He announced that the government would, with immediate effect, release GH¢1,579,078.20 to the Ghana Education Service (GES) for the payment of the 2012 arrears of transfer grant and other allowances.
“That, depending on the report of the validation exercise, the teacher unions will review their intended industrial action accordingly.
“That, with these negotiations ongoing, the teacher unions are to keep the peace on the teachers’ labour front,” the communique concluded.
Teachers’ response
Mr Acheampong, who spoke on behalf of the teacher unions, expressed gratitude that “today we have been able to reach an agreement”.
He said he had always insisted that the teacher unions believed in the sanctity of the school environment and expressed the belief that the agreement signed would bring to an end the issues raised by the unions.
“We trust that by Monday, as stipulated, we would have worked so hard on the agreement to get our 2013/14 teachers salary arrears validated, so that steps would be taken to pay, and if that is so done, we will not have any justification to go any further with the intention that we have served,” he concluded.
