The teachers declared the strike last week over their salary arrears, but were willing to call it off following government’s intervention and the commencement of discussions on the matter.

[contextly_sidebar id=”qVwWIEKaS4gyyZxLZ4eiJx9ToU5ShydL”]The Association said the government had failed to pay them their arrears since October 2016.

All 38 Colleges of Education across the country are still closed as academic work is expected to be further disrupted by the development.

According to the teachers, the negotiation with the government to amicably resolve the matter ended without any concrete assurances hence the decision to continue the strike.

The National Secretary of CETAG, Prince Obeng-Himah, in a Citi News interview said the government had failed to honour its obligation which had been clarified in a ruling by the National Labour Commission that CETAG must be paid within 2 weeks.

“We met with the Ministry last Monday, some discussions went on and promises were made and we expected that they will get back to us within the week. Unfortunately, we had a letter from the ministry signed by the Minister of Finance that fell short of the promise they made. It said there were one of two things they have to do before November ending before they can meet with us and agree on a payment schedule, which we think that it is a contradiction to the National Labour Commission ruling that came out on the 4^th of October which directed that they have to pay the money to us in 2 weeks,” he said.

According to them, per the migration of the tertiary statuses of the Colleges of Education following the passage of the Colleges of Education Act 847 in 2012, the teachers were expected to be paid the salary difference between their previous salary levels and the new salaries from January to September 2016.

CETAG  has said that, until the arrears are paid, they are withdrawing their services from the 38 colleges across the country.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t, CETAG negotiations on salary arrears breakdown appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“Per this particular approval, salaries, retention premiums, allowances and conversion differences are to be paid to staff,” the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Francis Gbadago told Citi News.

The Colleges of Education Tutors Association of Ghana (CETAG), has been on strike for close to two weeks, demanding the migration following the upgrade of training colleges into colleges of education.

Mr. Gbadago, called on the Colleges of Education Tutors Association of Ghana (CETAG) to call off their strike.

The tutors are also to receive arrears from January 2016; but Mr. Gbadago noted that “we have not yet concluded on the payment of the arrears but we are very much optimistic that will also be in place very soon.”

“We believe strongly that, as soon as the leadership of CETAG meets their council, they will be able to call off the strike and return to the classroom,” he added.

CETAG to meet following migration

Meanwhile, the President of CETAG, Prince Obeng-Himah, said the association is yet to review their strike.

He however noted that,  CETAG has “received assurance from the Finance Ministry.

“I think the only heartwarming thing this time was that, it wasn’t just a vague assurance; but it was backed by some kind of document.”

Mr. Obeng-Himah added that, “We have indeed shown the document to our legal counsel and subsequently we are meeting the national council or the higher decision making body of the association tomorrow [Wednesday].”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t migrates striking tutors onto Colleges of Education payroll appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.