Teachers of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) are asking for the payment of their November salaries before they can take part in any negotiations to call off their three-week strike.
The Ministry of Education had placed an embargo on the salaries of the striking CETAG members.
The members of CETAG, who declared the strike on October 29, were optimistic their issues related to market premium and research allowance would be addressed by government.
But the government has described the strike as illegal and resolved not to pay them for the period they were out of the classroom.
The Education Ministry ordered all principals of Colleges of Education not to validate salaries of tutors due to their decision to declare an indefinite strike.
The affected teachers are demanding market premium, as well as book and research allowance on the same scale with their colleagues in other tertiary institutions.
However, the action of the ministry appears to be adversely affecting the teachers.
They indicated that if their salaries are not paid, the government should rule out any negotiations.
At a press conference in Kumasi yesterday, CETAG President Prince Obeng-Himah, said the directive to freeze their salaries was procedurally wrong.
They said they would attend a meeting summoned by the Labour Commission for today, but would disregard any move to meet government until their salaries are paid.
They said since NLC had not described their strike as illegal, it did not lie in the mouth of government to do so.
“We have been clear and we need to be consistent that unless the issue of the frozen salary is settled, we will not sit down to have any discussion with any government agency,” he said.
He said they would go to the Labour Commission with a strong legal team to tell them their side of the story, insisting that they followed the right procedures before announcing their strike.
Source: Daily Guide
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SO YOU WANT TO REAP WHERE YOU HAVE NOT SOWED. IN THE FIRST PLACE, HOW MANY OF YOU ARE PHD HOLDERS,HOW MANY GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE U HANDLING AND WHAT KIND OF RESEARCH HAVE U UNDERTAKING. THIS ATTITUTE MUST STOP. THE LEADERS MUST BOW THIRE HEAD IN SHAME. NO WORK NO PAY. THEY CAN DECIDE TO STAY AT HOME.
Me I cant think far! CETAG members asking for market premium and research allowance as paid to public universities is mind bugling. How many of CETAG members are PhD holders to start with?
Why should the striking teachers cry for salaries they have not worked for? They should not be given a dime for staying at home. This behaviour only happens here in Africa. If you declare strike the Union should find money from its coffers to pay the members as pertains in the developed countries.
For now the teachers should go back to the classroom, get paid, and then kick-start the negotiations. Leadership should know when to stop. Think.
The teachers should be paid by the Union if they have one but not the government.
The Labour Union should pay them since they are not ready to meet the government and the government can't pay you with no work done. I agree with you irritants that the Union pay when workers go on strike but not the employer, when Ghanaian workers are not paid when they go on strike they will think twice when going on strike. Let them stay home for 1 year without pay and other people get employed . The nons*ense must stop in Ghana! Don't pay them as long as they stay home. They demand for all those and use the money to buy cement and sand and start building their houses instead of research and they turn again to blame government.
It is about time we woke up to realities. You don't work, you don't get paid, period. In other jurisdictions, when labour declares a strike, it is the union that keeps paying them until they resume work. In Ghana here, lecturers decide to strike for a whole month, do not go to class, and yet expect to be paid. Paid for what work done, and where is that money coming from?