Our negotiations with government have not achieved any meaningful outcome — Pre-tertiary teacher unions

Three major pre-tertiary teacher unions in Ghana have warned of another industrial action after negotiations with the government over their conditions of service ended inconclusively.

In a joint press statement issued on Monday, April 15, the leaders of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) expressed "the highest level of disappointment" in the government's lackadaisical attitude towards negotiations since they called off their two-week strike earlier this year.

"Our negotiations have not achieved any meaningful outcome. More disappointing is the fact that the Government Team does not seem to have the requisite mandate to respond adequately to our demands," read part of the statement.

They cautioned that "in the event of any brouhaha at the Pre-tertiary level, Teacher Union Leaders must not be blamed" due to the government's failure to seriously engage them over their demands.

They embarked on a two-week strike in February to press home their demands but called it off after the government pledged to negotiate.

The teacher unions are demanding, among other things, a functional scheme of service, arguing that a “cogent and appropriate" scheme will take care of all the requirements in the teaching profession.

The unions have been emphasising the government and the GES's inability to complete the distribution of laptops to all teachers.

However, the leaders say the negotiations so far have yielded little results.

If the government fails to urgently address their concerns, it could face renewed industrial unrest in schools, they warned.