CETAG strike: ‘Parity of prestige’ concern has been resolved – GTEC

Prof Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, the Acting Director General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), has declared that the ‘parity of prestige’ issue raised by the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) members has been addressed.

Since June 14, 2024, CETAG members from all 46 colleges of Education in the country have been on strike. The strike was triggered by the government’s refusal to implement its arbitral award and conditions of service, which led to students leaving their campuses.

On Monday, July 22, at a news conference in Kumasi, CETAG warned that it would oppose any unlawful attempts to freeze members’ salaries. They pledged to intensify their indefinite strike until the arbitral award and negotiated service conditions are implemented.

In response to the ongoing strike by CETAG members, GTEC directed the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to withhold the July 2024 salaries of all CETAG teaching staff, excluding the College Principals. GTEC justified its decision, stating that the salary freeze was a logical consequence of CETAG’s failure to validate its presence at work.

In an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face on Channel One TV, Prof Abdulai encouraged CETAG members to return to the classrooms, assuring them that their concerns, particularly that of parity of prestige, had been addressed.

He revealed that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) would soon begin the migration onto the scheme of service of their affiliate universities, thereby resolving the issue of discrimination in migration.

“What is even more refreshing is that the most difficult aspect of this whole conversation that has prolonged for all these years having to do with parity of prestige is being resolved and is not only resolved but it resolved now and I can tell you that we’ve given the FWSC up to 30th of September for this whole exercise to be completed and not completed as a totality we are looking at them in badges,” he stated.

He added “So those at the University of Cape Coast and is for a good reason why we chose those at the UCC because that is the largest number. They have about 15 institutions. So if you happen to be in a different institution and you see that your colleagues have been migrated then you know that there is a sign.

“So I will plead with them that look we cannot continue to bastardise our institutions in this manner of continual perennial strikes because the more you go on strike the more you make your institutions unattractive.”

Prof Abdulai also indicated that there was a possibility of their withheld July salaries being reimbursed.

“Of course, there have been instances where their salaries have been withheld and it’s been given back to them,” he added.

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