TEWU Beats War Drums

MEMBERS OF the Teachers Education Workers Union (TEWU) have served notice of their readiness to embark on a nationwide strike if the government fails to honor its promise of migrating them onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). The not-too-happy members, who work within various departments in the country�s tertiary institutions, said the government was dilly-dallying with them as regards their transition onto the new pay policy. According to them, the government promised to migrate them onto the new pay policy but the government had so far reneged on its promise. They said after a series of agitations, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government made a fresh promise of honoring its commitment to them on January 2011 but it again failed to live up to its word. Upon further agitations, the government assured them that come July this year, the government would finally honor its promise of transiting them onto the new pay policy which caused heated agitations in the teachers� front. At an emergency meeting held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on Tuesday, the union resolved to embark on an indefinite strike if the government once again failed to honor its promise. The chairman of the KNUST chapter of the union, Paul Kwabena Asante, told Daily Guide in an interview that they arrived at the decision due to the impression given to them by the government that it was not serious in migrating them onto the new pay policy. He said if the government was committed to the promise of transiting them onto the new pay policy, it would have honored its promise of migrating them onto the new pay policy, which was meant to unify the pay system in the country, a long time ago.Mr Asante pointed out that the undue delay in their transition onto the pay policy had brought untold hardship on them. He explained that as per the regulation governing their establishment, they were entitled to a platform to negotiate for their service of condition with the Committee of Vice Chancellor�s of Ghana (CVG) every two years. The chairman noted that because the government assured them that they would be migrated onto the new pay policy, they had been unable to go to the negotiation table to negotiate for their conditions of service. Mr Asante said the CVG had refused to meet them for the biannual negotiation due to the assurance from the government that members of the union would be transited onto the new pay policy. He indicated that the mishap was not only depriving them of enjoying value for their rendered services but was greatly affecting the effective functioning of their families as their take-home pay could no longer take care of their needs. The chairman asked the government to honor its July promise, adding that it should also be ready to pay their outstanding arrears from January 2010 as the promise was first made during that time. He emphasized that the union would still go on strike if the government honored its promise of migrating them onto the new pay policy and failed to pay them the outstanding arrears accumulated since January 2010. Mr Asante, alongside other members at the meeting, who was dressed in all-red outfit, said they also want the government to give them the green light to negotiate their internal conditions of service with the CVG. He said they have proposed a 20 percent increment in their basic salary and that they would accept nothing less because their members continued to suffer following the low level of salary they received at the end of the month.