The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has officially called off its strike effective, Tuesday, August 20, 2024.

CETAG in a statement noted that the decision to call off the over eight weeks strike follows a meeting with the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on August 15, 2024, at the Jubilee House.

“In an emergency virtual National Council meeting of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) today, Tuesday, 20th August 2024, Council members have voted unanimously to call off the ongoing strike action of the Association with immediate effect,” portions of the statement noted.

According to the statement, assurances were also given regarding the resolution of the impasse.

"The assurances were confirmed in a meeting between the Government Team and representatives of CETAG at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) on Monday, 19th August 2024 in which the Government team gave a roadmap with clear timelines for fulfilling the outstanding concerns of CETAG," it added.

Subsequently, CETAG has agreed to a roadmap provided by the Government, which includes several key actions as follows:

1. The frozen July 2024 and August 2024 salaries shall be paid together at the end of August 2024.

2. The offline migration of the staff shall be completed at the end of August 2024.

 3. That, the offline migration data shall be sent to all 46 colleges of education for verification by individual staff before processing by the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) in September 2024.

4. That, payment after migration will reflect in October 2024 salaries and that, the parties shall meet to agree on the payment plan for all arrears immediately.

5. That, the nomenclature to be used for migrating Senior Members of the Teaching staff shall be Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor in line with the affiliate universities' Scheme of Service.

6. That, compensation for All-Year-Round work done in 2022 shall be paid by the end of August 2024, and,

7. That, all holders of researched Master's degrees shall be migrated as Assistant Lecturers.

Meanwhile, CETAG has cautioned that if these conditions are not met by the end of October 2024, the strike will resume.

Background

On June 14, teachers in the various colleges of education laid down their tools, demanding better working conditions and remuneration packages.

This was in response to the government’s delay in implementing the National Labour Commission’s (NLC) Arbitral Award Orders and negotiated service conditions.

CETAG's demands include the payment of one month’s salary to each member for additional duties performed in 2022, and the application of agreed rates of allowances payable to public universities to deserving CETAG members.

This strike affected 46 public colleges nationwide.