2022 COLA STRIKE: Teacher Unions walk out of Negotiation Meeting

The 4th July, 2022 strike declared by Pre-Tertiary Education Unions continues unabated as the leadership of GNAT, NAGRAT, CCT-GH and TEWU walk out of the bargaining meeting.

The leadership of the striking teacher unions on Tuesday, July 12 walked out of the meeting with government officials that was to discuss the issues that resulted in the strike, TV3’s Daniel Opoku who has been observing developments with the teacher unions reported.

Mr. Angel Carbonou and Thomas Musah who are Presidents of the National Association of Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) respectively were at the meeting and disclosed to the media that the representatives of the government were at the meeting insisting that the teacher unions call off the strike before they commence negotiations.

The leadership of the four unions has indicated that the action by the government is a total betrayal of trust, hence it left them with no option than to boycott the meeting.

Thomas Musah said, “I think that what has happened today is very unfortunate. What we can say now is that our negotiation has come inconclusively, and we are still on strike”

For his part, Mr Carbonou said, “They are indicating and asking us to call off our strike before negotiations begin. So all it means is that the government side is not ready to continue negotiation unless the teacher unions call off the strike.

Since there has not been any progress, the teachers will remain out of the classrooms until further notice. A visit to public schools in Dodowa and its environs showed nearly the total absence of teachers in schools, as many of the students who had come to school were seen roaming in town.

“They have held all organized labour unions hostage and this is a betrayal of trust because the understanding we had was that organized labour has been convened for us to find the solution to the issue of COLA. Right now, since we are undesirable, we think that before they even walk us out of the meeting, we are walking out of the meetings ourselves.”

The COLA strike continues as the government has again failed to be proactive. It is important to put on record that, the dynamics of the teacher unions have changed and the unity of purpose being displayed by leadership will be difficult to break even if the government twists the hand of the unions through the court.

On Monday, 4^th July 2022, the four (4) Unions in Education, namely GNAT, NAGRAT, Teachers’ and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU), and Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, withdrew their services in all the Pre-Tertiary educational space, to back their demand for the Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA).

Until a forward-looking move is initiated by the government, the strike by both Teaching and Non-Teaching staff of the GES will continue for several weeks and even months and may affect the conduct of the WASSCE and BECE on the scheduled dates.

READ: Teachers COLA Demo at the Crossroads Today as Strike Enters Day 8 With Negotiations

The COLA strike is far from over as other labour unions join.