THE LEADERSHIP of the pre-tertiary teacher unions in the Upper West Region has served notice that its members will not call off their ongoing nationwide strike until the government produces verifiable proof that their longstanding grievances have been addressed.
Addressing a joint press conference at the NAGRAT Regional Secretariat in Wa, the three major teacher unions – the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) – reaffirmed their solidarity with their national leadership.
The unions declared that verbal assurances and unfulfilled timelines from the government and their employer will no longer suffice.
Reading the joint address, the Upper West Regional Secretary of GNAT, Ransford Owusu-Adjei, stated that the industrial action is anchored on three unresolved matters: stalled negotiations on their expired Collective Agreement, failure to place promoted teachers on their corresponding salary scales with accumulated arrears paid, and the non-implementation of the agreed 20% deprived area allowance.
”Our position is clear: teachers have waited long enough. We have engaged, we have negotiated, we have exercised patience, we have listened to assurances, and we have heard promises. However, assurances alone can no longer resolve these matters,” Mr Owusu-Adjei stressed.
On promotions, Mr Owusu-Adjei warned that a promotion that does not reflect in a teacher’s pocket is hollow. ”Let us be clear: a promotion without the corresponding financial implementation is incomplete. Teachers have earned these promotions and assumed the responsibilities attached to them. We are not prepared to accept another round of promises that payments are being processed. The era of promises without implementation must end. If the employer says teachers have been paid, show us the evidence,” he insisted.
He added that teachers serving in deprived communities have worked under harrowing conditions for a decade while waiting for the 20% allowance agreed since 2016 to be rolled out. In an interview after the press briefing, Upper West Regional Chairman of NAGRAT, Dominic Yaw Tunti, described the situation as dire, cautioning parents to keep their children home for their own safety.
”The effect is glaring. Every day we go through the schools to monitor, and the schools are deserted; we only see pupils and students there without teachers. Parents are complaining bitterly, and I agree with them that they should not allow their children to go to school because we do not know what may happen to them when there are no teachers to supervise them,” Mr Tunti stated.
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