By Kodjo Adams
Accra, April 22, GNA – The government has agreed to pay the outstanding lump sum of teachers who retired from January 2020 to December 31, 2020.
It has also promised to remit all union dues deductions from January 2024 to March 2024 into the accounts of the unions by April 27, 2024.
Mr Thomas Musah, the General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra after a takeholder meeting on issues affecting their welfare.
The stakeholders include the Ministry of Finance, the Controller and Accountant General, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
Mr Musah said the retired teachers, about 5,000, from January 2020 to December 2020 were shortchanged regarding the lump sum.
He said based on the calculations; the government was expected to pay approximately GHC 56 million to settle the outstanding arrears.
Mr Musah said the meeting set up a five-member technical committee to conduct feasibility studies on the data of teachers relating to tier two pension contributions, past credit issues, and the implementation of the GLICO report, among others.
He said the committee was expected to submit the report before May 1, 2024, to resolve the issues concerning their conditions of service.
Three pre-tertiary teacher unions called off their two-week nationwide strike over poor conditions of service on March 20, 2024.
The decision to end the strike was after the National Labour Commission obtained an interim injunction to halt the industrial action, thereby facilitating the commencement of negotiations.
The unions are the GNAT, the National Association of Graduate Teachers, and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers.
GNA