The National Council of Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has called off its ongoing strike immediately following successful negotiations with the government.
The decision to end the industrial action was made at an emergency virtual national council meeting held on August 20, 2024.
This development comes after CETAG representatives met with the Vice President’s Office on August 15 and subsequently received assurances regarding their outstanding concerns from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations on August 19.
In a joint statement issued to the Ghana News Agency, CETAG President Prince Himah and Acting National Secretary Thomas Ampomah confirmed that the government had provided a detailed roadmap to address the association’s issues.
This roadmap includes several key milestones:
Payment of the frozen July and August 2024 salaries for CETAG members by the end of August 2024.
Completion of the offline migration of staff data by the end of August 2024.
Verification of the migration data by individual staff across all 46 Colleges of Education before processing by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department in September 2024.
Reflection of the payment post-migration in October 2024 salaries.
Agreement on a payment plan for all arrears.
Additionally, the roadmap stipulates that the terminology for senior teaching staff will align with affiliate universities’ Scheme of Service, including titles such as assistant lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor, and professor.
The CETAG leadership has indicated that if the government fails to adhere to the agreed roadmap, the strike may resume at the end of October 2024.
The statement also praised Fred Oware, the Vice President’s senior advisor, for facilitating the resolution of the dispute, which had seen CETAG on strike for over two months.
The leadership thanked all members for their patience and commitment during the strike, emphasizing their role in ensuring a fair resolution.
The statement concluded, “The leadership is grateful to all members across the 46 Colleges of Education for remaining resolute for the past eight weeks to ensure that justice is served CETAG once and for all.”
