Bolgatanga (UE), April 14, GNA - Mr Awortwe Nkansah, Deputy National General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, (GNAT) has advised teachers not to compare their salaries with those in other sectors.

Mr Nkansah said teachers had a lot of existing remunerations and allowances which could be improved by the government to enhance their conditions of service.

He said this at an emergency Regional Council Meeting, held at Bolgatanga, to collate views from teachers and to strategize to on how to get their wages improved.

"You should not single out some professionals in the public sector to make comparisons to in relation to salaries and allowances for that might not give the true picture of the reality," he said. He said the recent demands and agitations by teachers to remove its leadership following the migration of teachers to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) were politically motivated. Mr Nkansah called on teachers not to use actions such as strikes to drive home their concerns but to ensure that peace, justice, harmony and stability prevailed among teachers as GNAT was doing all it could to fight for them.

In a statement read on behalf of the Council and Conference of Heads of Basic Schools (COHBS), Mr Stephen Gebute, Upper East Regional Chairman of GNAT, congratulated members for the mature manner in which they conducted themselves during the labour unrest that followed the migration unto the SSSS.

He expressed sympathy for those whose salaries were affected in various forms and condemned the violent behaviour of others. He said the distortions that affected the salaries had been rectified and the category two allowances for negotiations had been submitted.

Members should, therefore, exercise restraint and support the leadership to make fruitful negotiations.

Giving reasons why GNAT did not call for an industrial action, he said GNAT respects and abides by rules and regulations of the Labour commission (LC) with regard to strikes and knowing that stakeholders such as the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWAC) and the GES were ready to sit for negotiations, they did not find a strike relevant. He, however, expressed disappointment that stakeholders in the education sector such as the GES, Ministry of Education (MoE) and the LC kept silent about the disturbances that followed the migration.