..to help resolve issues on new conditions of service

Accra, Nov. 10, GNA - The Teachers and Educational Workers' Union (TEWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has appealed to the National Labour Commission (NLC) to help resolve the issue concerning the use of the new rates to determine their condition of service. The Union, in a complaint made to the NLC, said the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) had refused to allow its employers to use the new rates to determine the new conditions of service. The union described this as "discriminatory and unfair" treatment meted out to members in the Polytechnics in respect of the entrenched position by MOFEP to allow TEWU to use the new rates. TEWU said within this year some analogous public institutions have been given "favourable government mandates to review their collective agreements including conditions of service and saw no reason why TEWU should not be treated same.

Mr Daniel Ayim Antwi, General Secretary of TEWU told the Ghana News Agency on Monday that a negotiation meeting held with the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORP) indicated that the CORP could not use new rates following government directives to use the old rates. He said TEWU had refused to accept the position of the CORP and had in a letter, petitioned the NLC to "assist government, CORP and TEWU to resolve the matter amicably".

The letter, which was released to the GNA said; "We responded to an invitation from the CORP to enter into negotiations with them. We were, however, shocked to learn at the meeting that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had directed that the rates of all provisions in the old conditions of service should remain same". It said "MOFEP did not see the need for any of our proposals to be favourably considered," and that, "the Collective Agreements reached on the conditions of service in January, 2006 and which expired in December, 2007 should not be revised".