The Ministry of Education says the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), is to be blamed for the lack of progress in the impasse over the Interim Market Premium.
According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Education, Vincent Asafuah, “It is CETAG which is acting in bad faith. It is CETAG which is being unreasonable as far as all these negotiations are concerned,''.
Vincent Asafuah added that "You don’t get to the negotiation table and run away saying the premiums that government is offering at this instance are quite low.â€
CETAG is in the fourth week of an indefinite strike declared over failure to reach an agreement with the government on the payment of their Interim Market Premium as well as Book and Research allowances.
CETAG recently threatened to go to court to push for the closure of the colleges for the rest of this semester in line with the law governing the colleges, which states that colleges must be closed down and the semester annulled if academic work ceases for more than three weeks.
Responding to this, Mr. Asafuah said :“closing down the school is not going to be in anyone’s interest so I would wish that we urge CETAG to come to back to the negotiation table so we are able to deal with it.â€
The decision has affected all the 46 public Colleges of Education in the country.
CETAG has defended its indefinite strike saying it has been in negotiations with the government since 2012 when the law was passed to give the colleges full tertiary status.
It has had five engagements with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission since the colleges were upgraded in 2016.
READ MORE:CETAG set to press for annulment of semester
These engagements, according to CETAG, have not yielded any favourable result, and their members continue to be unfairly paid.
The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, says it is shocked by the association’s move to embark on an indefinite strike.
Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana, TTAG, has asked the government to address the concerns of their lecturers else they will advise themselves.
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