General News of Friday, 25 January 2013

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Teachers Strike: Gov't to resolve concerns

Government has held meetings with the leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in an attempt to resolve all pressing issues regarding salaries and other conditions of service, insiders have said.

The source who sat through the deliberations disclosed that some high profile members of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) were also present at the crunch meeting, with government resolving to constitute a high level working group to go into the concerns raised by the teacher unions.

A letter sighted by our source in the possession of the teacher unions from the office of the president requested the former to submit nominations to the working group.

“After the deliberations at the presidency the teacher unions were asked to nominate some people to represent their interest in the working group, so gradually we are making progress,” said the source.

Teacher unions last week threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if government fails to address their concerns by January 25.

They accused the Ministries of Education, Finance, the National Labour Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission of deliberately ignoring their petitions for negotiations on their market premium, restoration of annual credits and car maintenance allowances.