GNAT strike ends in fiasco
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, Dec 16, Ghanadot - An intended sit down strike that
the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) asked its
one-hundred and eighty thousand members nationwide to
observe beginning from last Monday 14th December, 2009 ended
up in fiasco as the teachers failed to comply with the
directive from the National Executives.
Investigations conducted by scouts of Ghanadot.com has
revealed that teachers in the areas that the paper visited
in the Greater Accra Region were at post and were busily
performing their duty as was expected of them as teachers.
Among the areas that were visited by our scouts include some
schools in Tema, Tema Newtown, Ashaiman, Baatsona Nungua and
Teshie. Some of the teachers who spoke to the paper on
anonymity noted the timing for the strike was wrong.
According to some teachers, they had already finished
conducting their examinations and all that was left for them
to do was to mark their scripts and fill the terminal
reports for the pupils. One teacher remarked, GNAT is not
serious at all, how can you wait for the term to almost come
to end and you tell us we should go on a sit down strike?
In related development, the National Labour Commission (NLC)
in a letter signed by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Edward
Mireku Boadu has directed that the Standing Joint Committee
shall negotiate and resolve their differences within two
weeks and has accordingly asked all teachers to go back to
the classroom to continue with their work while the matter
was dealt with.
Mr. Samuel Adjei dismissed the notion that the sit down
strike had ended in a fiasco following reports from some
schools that the teachers were at post discharging their
duties. Mr. Adjei remarked, “The strike was not a fiasco,
how can you go to some few schools and tell me all the
teachers are working? We have membership strength of 180,
000 and so you can’t tell me that”.
He disclosed that GNAT has rescinded its decision on the
strike action because there was a meeting between them and
the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of
Education and that they have been assured that the matter
would be resolved by the 28th of this month. “If by 28th
December, nothing was heard, you will see what will happen”,
the GNAT President charged.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GES, Mr. Samuel
Parker Allotey has indicated that members of the Ghana
National Association of teachers has very legitimate
concerns but look forward that the matter was resolved
amicably to ensure that it does not have any negative impact
on the innocent pupils.
It must be noted that the Ghana National Association of
Teachers last Friday, 11th December asked all of its members
to embark on a sit down strike to back home their grievances
for better conditions of serve from the government.
According to them, the talks for better conditions of
service began as far back as 2006 but government has not
been able to finalize the negotiations and that they (GNAT)
see the move from government as dilly-dallying with them.
Ghanadot
