Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union, TEWU is demanding a swift renewal of the Union's conditions of service by the government.

The Union warned of a potential danger due to government’s handling of the issue.

TEWU said their conditions of service had expired since 2006 but the government has been slow in renewing it.

General Secretary of the Union, Augustine Saakuur Karbo at a press conference in Accra said: “We have made various attempts previously to engage management in terms of reviewing these conditions of service and have been unsuccessful.”

Analysis

The conditions of service for members of GES expired in 2007, those in the Universities expired in 2008, while the conditions of service for polytechnics expired in 2009.

With the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), it was agreed that all public sector workers should wait till all others were placed on the structure before they could negotiate for conditions of service, to which they all obliged.

In 2014, 98 percent of workers had been placed on the SSSS and it was expected that negotiations for conditions of service would follow but that proved futile.

Latest development

TEWU is currently negotiating with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and agreed on a roadmap on how to address the issue.

Mr Karbo said, “…the good news is that finally we’ve gotten to that stage and as am talking to you now, from this press news conference I am moving into negotiations with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.”

He said, “Our expectations are high to the extent that these conditions are worsening over the years - 2006 to 2018.”

So we are expecting that the review would take into account the span of years that they’ve suffered ‘non-reviewal’ of these things and also introduce new things that will inure to the general benefit of the working people within Ghana education service,” he added.