By Konrad Kodjo DJAISI
In the spirit of the New Year, the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) of TUC (Ghana) wishes Ghanaian workers a Prosperous New Year in 2025, and reminds all social partners of the sacrifices of those who paved the way for the rights and the dignity enjoyed today in workplaces.
TEWU takes this opportunity to congratulate the new government, particularly President John Dramani Mahama and the Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang.
However, TEWU has some emergency pending issues with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) in relation to the delayed conclusion and implementation of reviewed conditions of service for the members in Ghana Education Service (GES), Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB), and the Ghana Library Authority (GLA), as well as the public and technical universities.
TEWU was compelled to activate a nationwide strike in November 2024, and to suspend it with the assurance that the FWSC will expedite action on the affected institutions.
“It is instructive for the government to note that on the issues of negotiations on the reviewed conditions of service, most of them just need signing off for implementation. We hope the delay tactics exhibited by some state agencies in the recent past, will not be entertained by the new government.”
Hence, with a new government in place, TEWU believes a speedy conclusion to the negotiations on Conditions of Service of the affected institutions will make it possible for the necessary financial commitments to be captured in the maiden budget of the government for immediate implementation.
Additionally, TEWU has observed that in recent times, some top management officers of the public universities have been blatantly violating the provisions relating to the Governing Councils, especially, in cases where TEWU of TUC (Ghana) representatives are concerned.
“The agenda of some of the institutional heads in the public universities are geared toward promoting the formation of splinter unions under the guise of freedom of association and a ‘pluralist labour’ environment.”
The actions of such institutional heads are in clear breach of the labour law. Even in situations where the top management officers’ attention has been drawn to such abuse, they continue to engage in the illegality of trying to get people other than TEWU representatives on the council.
Consequently, TEWU wants the new government to denounce the actions of management in the public universities who are bent on promoting the formation of rival trade unions for parochial interest and get the relevant state agencies to bring such officers pursuing the illegalities to order.
