Striking CETAG members put demands above August pay

Members and leadership of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) remain defiant despite threats of salary freezes by their employers .

In an interview on JoyNews, a member of CETAG’s national communications team, Fedilis Kamaayi said they remain resolute in their over six-week strike in demand of better conditions of service.

According to him, CETAG members were aware that freezing salaries was one of the strategies the employers were going to deploy to get them to call off their strike, therefore they were prepared for it.

“When the directive was issued, it has even motivated and gingered most of our tutors and they are saying that they should even take the August salary in addition because until all the arbitrary awards are implemented, they can go ahead and continue to freeze the salaries,” he said.

Mr Kamaayi added that the members have psyched themselves for what is to happen next.

His comments follow the Minister of Education's directive to Principals and the Controller and Accountant General not to validate the July 2024 salaries of the teaching staff of the 46 public colleges of education due to their ongoing strike.

The strike, which began on June 14 has already caused significant disruption to academic activities, with most students leaving campus.

Asked whether they were prepared to continue the strike action, Mr Kamaayi expressed confidence that the issues would be resolved soon.

“We have students in final year who have one more semester for them to complete and we have also started selling admission forms for new level 100s to be admitted. So, if you look at all these things, it will not augur well for the educational system in the country so our employer will not go there.”

Meanwhile, President of the Conference of Principals of the Colleges of Education, Professor Samuel Atintono says the freeze on teachers' salaries cannot be reversed.

“It was GTEC that wrote the letter not to validate the July salaries so not until GTEC writes again, we cannot reverse,” he said.

Comments

"I demand an unconditional apology and withdrawal of the TTAG's letter" - Sallah Emmanuel

As a concerned member of the College of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), I demand an unconditional apology and withdrawal of the letter from the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) requesting CETAG members to return to the lecture halls amidst our ongoing strike action. TTAG's letter is a blatant disregard for our rights and undermines our legitimate demands for better working conditions, fair compensation, and a conducive learning environment. Their actions are divisive and aim to break our resolve. We will not be swayed or intimidated. We demand respect and solidarity from our fellow education stakeholders, including TTAG. I call on TTAG to: 1. Apologize unconditionally for their letter 2. Withdraw their letter immediately 3. Publicly declare their support for CETAG's demands 4. Join us in demanding meaningful dialogue with the government to address our grievances Anything less would be a betrayal of our shared interests and the future o...

Ghana's Colleges of Education Lecturers Strike Reaches 7th Week Amidst Stalemate

BACKGROUND Ongoing Dispute Over Teachers' Service Conditions: 2021 Negotiations Unresolved 1. In August, 2021, Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) and Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) started negotiations on Conditions of Service (CoS) to be concluded in November, 2021 and take effect from January 2022. 2. FWSC deliberately delayed the negotiations which led to a strike action by CETAG in December, 2021. 3. On 10th January, 2023, GTEC invited CETAG leadership to a meeting to discuss the issues which led to the strike action. 4. CETAG called off the strike action immediately after the meeting because the government team gave assurance that FWSC shall resume the negotiations and conclude immediately. 5. Sadly, after CETAG called off the strike in January 2022, the FWSC continued to deliberately delay the negotiations which led to another strike action by CETAG in December 2022. 6. On 7th December, 2022, the Hon. Minister...

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As a concerned student of Peki College of Education, I humbly ask: What specific action does TTAG expect CETAG to take in addressing the ongoing issues regarding teachers' incentives and the impact on students' education? I think this is the time we need TTAG to rather address the government than adressing CETAG. TTAG should protest for the government to pay our lecturers their rightful incentive rather than appealing to CETAG as if they are the ones at fault. Nevertherless I am not trying to be bias. Imagine if it were to be any other profession that threatened the government with strike, government will not hesitate to settle them but when it comes to teachers, the government will be playing back and forth game with them. The fact that this strike took this long means that first the government does not have any or little regard for the teachers and secondly, the government does not care about us the students if not, the government would have s...

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