Teacher unions declare nationwide strike demanding ‘Cost of Living Allowance’

Due to demands for the payment of the Cost of Living Allowance, four teacher unions have announced an ongoing statewide strike that will begin on Monday, July 4. (COLA).

The unions, which include the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), are requesting that they receive the 20% of their base pay.

They claim that the government’s failure to pay the COLA, which could have helped to lessen the effects of the growing cost of living, is to blame for their industrial action.

However, the employees have stopped providing their services inside and outside of the classroom as of June 30 due to a deadline that was not met.

The General Secretary of the GNAT, Thomas Musah, said on Monday during a joint press conference that all of their requests for the government to take proper action had been ignored.

“We can no longer bear the hardship. Even more so, we reject the inequality of salaries in the public services of this country. We have been compelled under the current circumstances to publicly communicate to Ghanaians on our intention to go on strike, having gone past the June 30, 2022 deadline [that] we gave the government for the payment of the Cost of Living Allowance “Consequently, we have decided to embark on a strike action effective today, Monday, July 4, 2022. By this, we are informing the general public that we are withdrawing all our services in all the pre-tertiary education space – this includes teaching and non-teaching staff,” he announced.

According to the Employment and Labour Relations Ministry, a meeting to discuss the demands of the teaching union leadership has been scheduled.