
The ongoing industrial strike by the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) may soon come to an end, as the Office of the Vice President makes efforts to address CETAG’s demands.
In a recent meeting held at the Jubilee House in Accra on August 15th, 2024, representatives from CETAG and the Principals of Colleges of Education(PRINCOF) were invited to discuss the issues surrounding the strike.
Though the Vice President was unavailable, Mr. Fred Oware, Senior Advisor to the Vice President, took charge of the meeting and listened to the concerns raised by CETAG and PRINCOF.
The agenda was to better understand the issues that led to the strike and find a prompt resolution to allow academic activities to resume in the 46 public colleges of education.
SEE ALSO: CETAG Strike: GTEC to Recruit New Teaching Staff
After hearing both sides, the Senior Advisor expressed the Vice President’s Office’s commitment to promptly address the outstanding issues.
Mr. Oware also appealed to CETAG to suspend their ongoing strike, assuring them that the Vice President’s Office empathizes with them and will exert its influence to ensure the implementation of their demands.
He also initiated contacts with relevant authorities to advocate on behalf of CETAG, urging them to expedite necessary actions.
SEE ALSO: CETAG Strike: Teacher Trainees Face Three-Semester Year
However, CETAG stated specific demands that needed to be met before considering the suspension of their strike;
- Date for Completion and Migration Payment
- First reasons for requesting that was due to the contradictions in dates being provided by the Minister for Education and the Ag. Director General of GTEC.
- Whereas the Minister gave 26th August 2024 for completion of the exercise, the Director General went to some colleges and mentioned October ending.
- Second reason for demanding the date for completion and migration payment is that the migration team could not give any concrete timeframe for the exercise and payment during the engagement with the monitoring team.
- Documentary evidence and guidelines on the ongoing migration Payment schedule for the arrears on migration and the BRA top up for 2023 and 2024.
- Payment of the one month salary as compensation for all-year-round work done in 2022 to all entitled staff by the end of August 2024
SEE ALSO: Trainee Allowance: Updates and What to Expect
The Senior Advisor assured CETAG that he would immediately contact the Ministry of Education, GTEC, FWSC, and the Ministry of Finance to provide feedback on these specific demands.
He explained that the roadmap for payment of arrears could only be determined once the first payment had been made, but ensured CETAG that any arrears resulting from the migration process would be paid subsequently.
SEE ALSO: CETAG Goes Hard on Minister of Education and National Labour Commission (NLC)
In conclusion, the Senior Advisor reiterated the Vice President’s determination to address the concerns raised by CETAG and PRINCOF.
He expressed his hope that CETAG would resume work by Monday, August 19th, 2024, as the Vice President continued his advocacy for the implementation of their demands.