40,000 Teachers to Strike Over Salary Arrears

Teachers in the country may embark on an indefinite industrial action, effective Thursday, November 1, 2018, if government fails to resolve challenges with the payment of their salaries.

According to the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana (CCT-Ghana), about 40,000 of their members, in both basic and second-cycle schools, are expected to lay down their tools until government settles all unpaid salaries.

The warning was contained in a Press Release issued by the Coalition on Wednesday.

“We want to let the media know that the value has been the same and none of the promises made towards payment of the salary arrears to teachers has been fulfilled by government.

“Government still owes arrears which run into millions of Ghana cedis”.

“Recently 10,256 teachers were said to have been paid their arrears but our checks indicate that many of these people were underpaid,” the statement read.

Insurance ‘Wahala’

The concerned teachers also made a case regarding deductions made by the Controller and Accountant General Department on behalf of SIC/GES Life Insurance policy in June 2018 against their will.

According to CCT-Ghana the deduction had not been refunded despite promises by the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) that it would be refunded.

“Though the deduction was halted in July and August, 2018, some teachers still saw the deduction of their September 2018 payslips, a situation we find worrying.”

They argue further that an insurance policy cannot be imposed on them.

“The above situations, which have the tendency of killing the flesh and the interest of our members in the various classrooms, leave us with no other option than to lay down our tools until the issues are fully resolved,” they stressed.

Even though CCT-Ghana is unsure whether Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) would support the move, it is confident that their 40,000 force would embark on the indefinite strike.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey