The Ghana Education Service, (GES), is shocked by the decision of three Teacher Unions to embark on a strike over the non-payment of salary arrears.
The three Unions – Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) – declared the strike to take effective Monday, December 9, following a series of engagements with the government on Legacy Arrears incurred between 2012 and 2016.
In a joint statement, the Unions say the lack of adherence on the part of the government to these demands has necessitated the December 9, action.
They have therefore, directed all members to stay out of classrooms across the country in protest of the sufferings endured as a result of the negligence.
But the GES in a statement explained that the Legacy Arrears relate to outstanding salary arrears between 2012 and 2016 and affected about 120 thousand 232 staff of the Service.
The statement added that the Legacy Arrears was the result of a policy by the then government which allowed the payment of three months of salary arrears owed any employee in the Public Service.
All other arrears were to be justified and validated by the Audit Service before payment. The statement said since 2017, the current government has taken deliberate actions to pay off the arrears due those who deserve them.
It said, as of September 2019, about 87 thousand 556 staff of GES had been paid their full salary arrears, representing 95 percent of total staff validated for payment.
It is therefore with utmost shock that Management has learnt of the purported declaration of the strike and states that the conduct of the Union leaders is grossly an abuse of the principle of good faith and good working relations which have been established and nurtured over the years.
