Call off strike immediately -NLC to teacher unions

The National Labour Commission has directed the three striking teachers’ unions to call off their industrial action immediately.
The three striking teachers’ unions; the National Association of Graduate Teachers Ghana (NAGRAT), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT) laid down their tools over the appointment of the Dr Eric Nkansah as the new Director General of the Ghana Education Service.
The National Labour Commission in a letter dated November 9th, 2022 stated that the unions failed to follow due process before embarking on the strike.
Meanwhile, the striking members have met with the commission in earlier engagements to bring finality to the matter but have, however, proved futile.
The commission has asked to meet the striking parties on November 16, 2022 while tasking government to engage the unions over the issues in dispute.

Three teacher unions – GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT – declared nationwide strikes over the appointment of a banker as the Director-General (D-G) of the Ghana Education Service.
The industrial action took effect on Friday, November 4, 2022, “until further notice.
The teacher unions stated that Dr Eric Nkansah is a banker and not a teacher hence, his appointment is in contravention of the requirements for the appointment of a GES Director-General.
They again argued that the extension of the contract of Lawyer Anthony Boateng for the third time is unacceptable because there are many directors in the queue to occupy that position.
The teacher unions, therefore, expressed their unhappiness and unwillingness to work with the new Director-General and called on the government to rescind his decision.

The Labour Ministry has held two meetings with the unions but both of which ended inconclusively. A meeting on Monday, November 7 was adjourned and both parties were expected to continue on Tuesday at 2:00 pm.

However, in a statement on Tuesday, November 8 shortly before the meeting could commence, the Ministry said all attempts to get the teacher unions to call off the strike  proved futile and referred the matter to the NLC.

This prompted the NLC’s meeting which was scheduled on Wednesday, November 9 with all parties involved in the matter. That meeting ended inconclusively.
Since the teacher’s unions laid down their tools, academic activities have been affected nationwide with some fewer pupils turning out to school.