Three teachers unions have called off their strike action following a court order.
A statement issued and signed by the General Secretary of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas T. Musah, said the decision by the unions to call off the strike was arrived at on the advice of their lawyers in consequence to a court order of Wednesday, December 11.
“We hereby wish to inform all our members to call off the nationwide strike action forthwith,” the statement urged, adding “our next line of action would be communicated to the rank and file in due course.”
The three unions — Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-Gh) — recently declared a strike over unpaid arrears between 2012 and 2016 when Mahama and his NDC were in power which the teachers have termed ‘Legacy Debt’.
On Wednesday, the government released GH¢49,998,626.72 for the settlement of the outstanding for the teachers.
The Ministry of Finance ordered the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to release the stated amount to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to the affected teachers.
A correspondence dated December 11, 2019 signed by the Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, said, “You (CAGD) are hereby authorised to release the sum of GH¢49,998,626.72 to enable the Director-General, Ghana Education Service, to pay outstanding transfer grants and other allowances to qualified staff of GES.”
The government gesture follows a strike action by teachers in the folds of the Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers, Ghana National Association of Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers as a means of piling pressure to have their arrears settled.
The three teachers unions had insisted they would return to the classroom until their demands were met in spite of a directive from the National Labour Commission to do so immediately.
The monies being demanded by the teachers unions were incurred from John Mahama and his NDC days, a GES statement had explained earlier.
BY Melvin Tarlue