The four teacher unions have called off their nation-wide strike after Organised Labour signed an agreement with government on a 15 percent cost of living allowance (COLA).
After a successful meeting on Thursday, July 14, the Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, announced that they have agreed with the labour unions that the COLA will be paid at the rate of 15% of base pay which would take retrospective effect from July 1, 2022.
“We also agreed that all industrial actions underway and threats of same will be called off immediately and that labour will return to work”, he added.
Following the agreement, GNAT’s General Secretary Thomas Musa Tanko declared that “we hereby direct all our members and wish also to inform them that effective July 14, 2022, we have called off the strike that we embarked upon on the 4th of July.”
The four major teacher unions begun an indefinite nationwide strike on Monday, July 4 meant to drive home their demands for a 20% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).
In a joint press statement issued and signed by the leadership of the unions, made up of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT), they requested that the 20% of their basic salary to be paid to them.
Following from the teacher unions’ industrial action some students stayed home while majority of those in schools were without supervision.
Also, some schools were shut down despite a GES directive that schools be kept opened despite the teachers’ strike.
