The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has announced that its strike will persist until the Council addresses their concerns, despite growing appeals to end the industrial action.
The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) previously urged CETAG to suspend the strike to enable further dialogue. This appeal came after a closed-door meeting between GTEC and CETAG, following the association’s strike declaration on Thursday, January 2, 2025, over unresolved issues.
In a press release, GTEC’s Director-General, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, criticized the timing of the strike, describing it as unproductive. He called on CETAG to end the action and return to negotiations, assuring them of GTEC’s commitment to resolving their grievances.
Despite this, CETAG President Maxwell Bunu, in an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, reiterated that the strike could be adjusted but not entirely called off. He argued that the government’s financial commitments so far were insufficient to fully address their demands.
“What we saw today, probably if they were to show those documents to us, the commitments they had made earlier, we wouldn’t have been where we are. It has always been documentation and promises, we have not seen any full action.
“All the documents they have shown to us, we need to brief the council, about what transpired today, [Friday] and the council will take a decision from there. Based on what I have seen today, I made it known to Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai that it’s not sufficient to enable us to call off or suspend the strike.
“We’re not calling off this strike, the best we can do is to moderate the elements of the strike. For us to just call it off I don’t think that is feasible.”
He accused the government of being insensitive to their concerns.
The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana on January 2, announced its decision to embark on an indefinite strike effective Thursday, January 2, 2025.
The declaration follows an Emergency National Council meeting of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association held on Monday, December 30, 2024.
In a statement issued on December, 31, CETAG explained that this decision follows earlier notices of strike served on September 26, 2024, and December 23, 2024, of which the National Labour Commission (NLC) failed to address the concerns raised.
