Barely three weeks after the National Council of Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) declared indefinite strike action across all the 46 colleges of education over the failure of the government to implement the 2017-2020 conditions of service as agreed, academic activities will resume from today, 25th January 2022.
This follows the validation of salaries of members of the association after an emergency meeting held on January 17, 2022, in which the National Council of CETAG agreed unanimously to suspend the indefinite strike action across all the 46 colleges of education on confirmation through validation of January salaries, the implementation, and payment of the 2017-2020 conditions of service.
A statement issued by the association said there had been widely observed disproportionate anomalies in the payment of arrears as seen in the validation process across all the 46 colleges of education.
Unequivocally, it said the leadership of CETAG would like to express its utmost displeasure and grave concern about how the payment of the 2017-2020 conditions of service had been implemented.
“CETAG expects that the needed steps will be taken by stakeholders to remedy the situation by paying fully all unpaid arrears in February 2022 by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
The association said it expected the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to take steps to re-engage the leadership of CETAG to conclude the negotiations of the 2021 conditions of service before the end of February 2022.
In a related development, Public universities across the country are at risk of a mass shutdown as the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) strike enters its third consecutive week.
The strike is nearing its 21-day ultimatum for the continuous suspension of academic activities.
By statutes, public universities must be closed down after 21 days of non-academic work.
UTAG resolved to continue its strike unabated, despite the National Labour Commission (NLC)’s declaration of the industrial action as illegal.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Kofi Atakora
