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The National Labour Commission (NLC) has directed teacher unions to call off their strike immediately and return to the classroom.
The directive, issued yesterday, after a series of engagements between the government side, represented by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), and the teacher unions made up of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers Ghana (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-Ghana) to resolve the impasse that had resulted in the strike.
This followed a complaint from the FWSC concerning unfair labour practice by the three teacher unions which was contrary to the section 127 (3) of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).
The complainant had stated that there were 16 items for the negotiations, out of which 10 were negotiated and agreed upon on the first day of their meeting, with six items outstanding.
The six outstanding items presented by the teacher unions were financial issues, including continuous professional development allowance, deprived area allowance, teaching /assessment allowance, rent/housing allowance and transport /commuting allowance.
The FWSC said the strike had, therefore, affected negotiation of the items.
The commission, in its findings, noted that there was a need for the parties to continue the negotiations immediately on the six financial items. The complainant informed the meeting that the issue of the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s embargo on some teachers’ salaries as a result of an audit exercise which was in contention had been lifted.
However, the respondents contended that there were other teachers whose salaries had not yet been paid. “It also came to the notice of the commission that the final draft of the scheme of service will be submitted to the respondents for study by the end of April 2024,” the commission indicated.
The FWSC informed the meeting that the rest of the laptops for the teachers’ would be supplied by the end of June 2024.
Following the findings, the commission, apart from ordering the Teacher Unions to go back to class, further directed that the parties should meet yesterday to continue negotiations on the six financial items.
The financial items presented to the commission by the Teacher Unions included continuous professional development allowance, deprived area allowance, teaching /assessment allowance, rent/housing allowance and transport /commuting allowance.
The FWSC was to ensure that the embargo on some teachers’ salaries by the office of the Special Prosecutor be lifted by the end of April 2024 and also ensure that all teachers received their laptops by the end of June 2024.
The commission also tasked the FWSC to ensure the submission to the Teacher Unions, the final draft of the scheme of service by the end of April 2024 for their study. “The parties should negotiate in good faith. The parties should report back the outcome of negotiations on April 17, 2024,” it added.
On the issue of supplying laptops to their members who did not have them under the special government-assisted programme, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the government would ensure they were supplied in two months.
He, therefore, urged the teachers to return to the classroom in good faith for the negotiations to continue.
The President of GNAT, Rev. Isaac Owusu, who addressed the press during the declaration of the strike in an interview with the Daily Graphic over the NLC directive said the strike would continue until each union was able to contact its constituents.
He, however, disclosed that the unions were scheduled to meet the Minister of Employment yesterday and expressed the hope of having a fruitful outcome which could change the development.
The three teacher unions on March 20 declared a nationwide strike over undue delay in negotiations of their collective agreement and unavailability of a proposed functional scheme of service for them.
