The three Teacher Unions in Pre-Tertiary Education in the Western and Western-North Regions have given their employer, the Ghana Education Service (GES), and for that matter, the Ministry of Education up to May 13, 2024, to pay all their allowances in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, else they will be compelled to take a drastic action by calling on their leadership to act immediately.

According to the Unions, "We have had enough of the nonchalance, complacency, and aloofness of the employer and would thus not countenance this situation any longer".

Clad in red bands and chanting slogans of near demonstration and strike, the Western Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr. Boadu Abedi William, flanked by the Regional Chairman of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr. Justin Nelson, and Regional Chairman of Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-GH), Mr. Daniel Tetteh Agbo, and other members, told a news conference at the GNAT Hall at Fijai in Takoradi.

It will be recalled that the three teacher Unions in Pre-Tertiary Education recently embarked upon an industrial action to press home for their allowances which they have been battling over for the past 15 years and counting.

The teacher Unions claimed that "since the beginning of their Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2009 and after the 2020 Collective Agreement, the Unions have known no peace, owing to the government's continued failure to implement the allowances agreed on, as well as fulfill promises given".

The news conference, according to the Regional Chairman of GNAT, Mr. Boadu Abedi William, is in solidarity with a demonstration by their comrades in the Volta Region on May 3, 2024, who presented a petition to the Volta Regional Minister for onward transmission to the powers that be.

He reiterated that in Ghana's quest to achieve its anticipated educational objectives, the teacher plays a pivotal role.

He said the teacher, perhaps more than anybody else, shapes and determines the outcomes of the learning processes and ensures, in effect, the educational system's success.

According to the Teacher Unions, upon several considerations, they reduced their demands from 17 to 4.

They are, therefore, looking up to their employer to meet these 4 demands, namely, the deprived area allowance, the extra assessment allowance, the book/data online teaching allowance, and upward adjustment of CPD allowance.

He said, "Despite this gesture of good faith from the Unions, the government is still adamant and has demonstrated bad faith".

"This has oftentimes culminated in high-level despondency and disaffection for leadership".

"We have had to hang on the thin line, with our members complaining bitterly.

These complaints have become worse, especially as our members are reeling under the utter hardship imposed on us all by the current economic conditions in the country".

He added that "the last 24 months have been the most tortoise for the Ghanaian teacher with no ray of hope of relief initiated by the Employer".