Striking teachers boycott COLA meeting over threat

A (Cost of living allowance) COLA meeting held on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, between the government and striking teacher unions ended inconclusively for the second time after the leadership of the unions walked out from the negotiation table.

Speaking to journalists after the unfortunate incident, the President of the National Association of Teachers (NAGRAT) said the government’s representatives insisted that the unions call off the industrial action before negotiations start.

“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,” Angel Carbonu said.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) on his part 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”

“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 a solution to the issue of Cost of living allowance (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 GNAT General Secretary, Mr Thomas Musah told journalists after the meeting ended.

The teacher unions Monday, July 4, 2022, in a joint statement copied to AcademicWeek, announced their decision to embark on an industrial action to register their displeasure over the government’s failure to grant them 20% COLA.

The pre-tertiary Unions comprise the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers, the Teachers and Educational Workers Union and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana.

President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu has said the striking teachers will not call off the ongoing industrial action until the central government agree to pay their 20% Cost of living allowance.