The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has begun its seventh week of industrial action.
Its members have flagrantly disregarded the instruction from GTEC by refusing to return to the classroom, and as a result, their July pay has been frozen.
In protest of their subpar working conditions and the government’s unwillingness to carry out the National Labor Commission’s (NLC) arbitral decisions, the teachers put down their tools.
Following weeks of talks, CETAG claims to have achieved an agreement with its employers. But, because the government has not signed the deal, it is worthless.
According to CETAG President Prince Obeng-Himang, their industrial action will not end until the deal is signed.
“The objective for embarking on the strike has not been met, so it will be a fruitless fight for us to say that we are calling off the strike because our July salaries have not been paid.
On Wednesday, we met with the Minister for Education and other key stakeholders, and there were a lot of proposals on the table in an attempt to find a lasting solution to the problem at hand, so we waited for them to sign the agreement so we can table that agreement at our next council meeting and deliberate on the issues so that at the end of the day, a decision will be taken with regards to the proposal that has been made by government, but as we speak, that document has not been signed yet.”
“If the government was showing some sort of commitment, from Wednesday to today, it will be ready. The lackadaisical attitude should tell you that they are trying to deceive us.”
Commenting on this, labor expert Austin Gamey, urged the government to show some commitment to the agreement by appending its signature to the contract.
He believes that would help erase any mistrust between both parties.
“They want to be sure that the employer will append his signature to whatever agreement they have to enable them to lay it before their council and members who have agreed to suffer the consequences of their strike action. Until they have that guarantee that they have settled and they have all accepted it, they may not go back.”
Meanwhile, as CETAG awaits its signature, students of the colleges of education across the country continue to feel the pinch of the strike, with many appealing to the government to address CETAG’s concerns.
They lament that the situation is affecting their academic journey.
“The strike is having a huge impact on students, and the economic situation that we are in right now, feeding on campus, is something we cannot bear anymore. When you move outside to buy food, it costs over GHS20, and we have been here for over a month now, so the money we came with for the semester is even finished. We have also not been going to class, so we learn on our own, but we need explanations on some subjects, so it is impacting us,” a male student told JoyNews.
Another student added, “I am expecting them to call off the strike and come to school to continue their services to the nation. Ever since we came to school, there has not been any teaching or anything like that. Sometimes you need guidance from your teacher to understand whatever you are learning, but now we just read with our understanding, which is not helping or improving our studies on campus.”