The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has refused to end its strike action despite numerous calls by the National Labour Commission (NLC) to call it off.
CETAG declared an indefinite nationwide strike on August 1, 2023, over non-compliance by the government on the implementation of the National Labour Commission’s (NLC) Arbitral Award Orders and the negotiated conditions of their service.
NLC three days after the strike ordered the leadership of CETAG to call off the strike after failing to honour their invitation on July 2, 2023.
The President of CETAG, Prince Obeng-Himah, in an interview, said they will never call off the strike until all their grievances have been met.
“With Wednesday’s meeting, we are yet to meet with our legal team and members in broader consultations before the Association will take action on it,” he stressed.
“The very day we declared the strike, that we should appear before the Commission on Wednesday, 3rd August 2023. But after broader consultations and assessment of our situation, we were so advised to respond in writing, especially because the NLC is a respectable institution that should not be taken for granted. So, we responded in writing, but after that, we have not had any other letter from the Commission inviting us over for a meeting” he added in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on TV3.
Mr Obeng-Himah added that the Commission has invited them for another meeting on Wednesday, August 9, and they are yet to decide whether to attend or not.
Background
In January 2023, CETAG embarked on an indefinite strike action after the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) protracted negotiations for new conditions of service for more than a year.
The strike was however called off following interventions by the National Labour Commission.
A compulsory arbitral order birthed new conditions of service for CETAG agreed upon by the government.
However, in a press release dated Monday, July 10, 2023, CETAG demonstrated that the agreed negotiations between the two parties had not been implemented despite several letters of notice to the Ministry of Finance.
“Following the NLC’s compulsory Arbitral Award, the parties proceeded to sign off the negotiation agreement, which has been communicated to the Ministry of Finance by the FWSC since May 26, 2023, for approval and implementation. Surprisingly, the MoF has refused to act on FWSC’s letter together with the NLC’s Arbitral ORDERS despite letters to the MoF requesting immediate implementation of the negotiated agreements. Practically, CETAG members cannot continue to survive on expired 2020 CoS in this biting economy of Ghana,” excerpts of the statement read.
CETAG, therefore, warned that it will be forced to lay down tools by the end of July if the government fails to honour its part of the negotiation.
Additionally, it will not continue with the all-year-round academic calendar for 2023/2024.