Cost Of Living Allowance: Four Teacher Unions Declare Nationwide Strike From July 4

• Four teacher unions have left the classrooms to put pressure on the government to pay them what they call Cost of Living Allowance
• GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU and CCT say they have been compelled to leave classrooms until further notice because the government failed to meet a June 30 deadline
• The Cost of Living Allowance is a push by public sector workers for the government to pay them 20% of their salaries as allowance to cushion them from economic hardship

Four teacher unions in Ghana have declared a nationwide strike from Monday, July 4, 2022, to push the government to pay Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT), want the government to pay them 20% of their basic salary as allowance.

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“We can no longer bear the hardship,” the teacher unions said in a joint statement. They cite gaping inequality in the salaries of public sector workers as demotivating.

The COLA is a push by public sector workers for the government to pay them 20% of their salaries as allowance to cushion them from economic hardship

“We have been compelled under the current circumstances to publicly communicate to Ghanaians on our intention to go on strike, having gone past the June 30, 2022 deadline we gave government for the payment of the Cost of Living Allowance,” the statement explained.

An attempt by the government to stop the industrial action has been unsuccessful. The Employment and Labour Relations Ministry has told Joy News that it has invited the striking unions for a meeting.

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“I am still waiting for signals for us to meet where all stakeholders will be brought on board and the outcomes of those meetings will be laid bare to you [teachers]. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

“The fact that times are hard is trite knowledge. It is a reality. Our largest workforce as a country is teachers, and I must confess that public sector workers must be commended,” Deputy Employment Minister, Bright Wireko-Brobbey, told Joy News on Monday.

University Teachers Association of Ghana goes on 2-week strike break

In February this year, YEN.com.gh reported in a separate story that members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) suspended a seven-week-old strike over conditions of service.

According to a press release issued and sighted by YEN.com.gh, UTAG’s National Executive Committee made some considerations before finally coming to the decision.

UTAG leadership said considerations included interventions from eminent leaders like former President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is the Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), and Sir Sam Jonah, the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

Source: YEN.com.gh