By Freed Mwini
Wa (UW/R), Oct. 01, GNA – The Upper West Regional branches of three Pre-tertiary Teacher Unions have reaffirmed their resolve to sustain the ongoing strike in the region until the government takes concrete steps to address their outstanding demands.
“Our return to the classroom must be preceded by concrete and verifiable evidence that the outstanding commitments are being implemented”, they said.
The regional union leadership urged teachers in the region to remain united, disciplined, and committed to the collective position of the unions.
The unions are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association (PRETAG).
They said their decision to support the move by their national leadership to proceed on strike was necessitated by delays in resolving key issues affecting teachers’ conditions of service and general livelihoods.
The demands were that the government ensured the immediate commencement and expedited conclusion of negotiations on their expired Collective Agreement and Conditions of Service, and placement of teachers who had received promotions on the appropriate salary scales and payment of arrears owed to them.
The unions were also demanding the implementation of a 20 per cent Deprived Area Allowance contained in their Collective Agreement since 2016.
Mr Ransford Owusu-Adjei, the Upper West Regional Secretary of GNAT, who addressed the press in Wa on Thursday on behalf of the three unions, said they had engaged government, negotiated and exercised patience, but that the issues remained unresolved.
He said, for instance, that promotion without the corresponding financial implementation was not enough.
He, therefore, stressed that teachers who had earned promotions and assumed additional responsibilities deserved their rightful salaries and arrears.
Mr Owusu-Adjei said teachers working in deprived communities had endured difficult conditions for years, while waiting for the agreed allowance to be implemented.
He said though the unions welcomed the government’s commitment to implementing the allowance, they required that the commitments should translate into actual implementation.
“We are not prepared to accept another round of promises that payments are being processed,” Mr Owusu-Adjei indicated.
He said the unions remained committed to dialogue and the peaceful resolution of the dispute, but such engagement must produce tangible outcomes.
Mr Owusu-Adjei said the strike was not a struggle for individual teachers but a collective demand for respect, fairness, accountability and the implementation of agreements and legitimate entitlements.
He stressed that members shall return to the classroom only after a concrete, credible, and verifiable evidence that the outstanding commitments were being implemented, with particular attention to the payment of arrears owed to promoted teachers.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Freda Mwini, GNA