Upper East Regional Chairman of Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-Gh) Richard Sunday Yinbil says members of the striking teacher unions will make up for lost time if their demands are met and they return to work.
Speaking in an interview on Breakfast Today on Dreamz FM, Richard Yinbil said teachers do not find pleasure abandoning the classroom.
However, government’s lack of commitment to addressing their concerns, he said, left them with no option but to lay down their tools.
He stated that the unions and their members are aware of the impact of their action on the academic calendar and will map out steps to cover for the period they have been away if government heeds to their demands and they resume work.
“We don’t take delight in striking because they are our children too. So when we go back, we will make amends. There are many ways that a teacher will use to catch up with the lost time. We can agree to have an additional one hour, let’s add 2 hours. Let’s start early and close late. It’s part of the plan that every teacher and the schools will decide on the way forward,” he stated.
3 teacher unions – GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT-Ghana – on March 20, 2024 declared a nationwide strike, citing undue delay in negotiations of their collective agreement and unavailability of a proposed scheme of work for them among other concerns.
But the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission accused them of failing to follow due process in taking the action.
The National Labour Commission (NLC), following a meeting yesterday with the unions and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to try resolving the impasse, has directed the striking unions to return to the classroom.
But Sunday Yinbil says they will only call off their industrial action if they are satisfied with the ongoing negotiations.
“We have been directed and we are still on the negotiating table. We will do the necessary and probably, at the right time, if we are satisfied, we will tell our members to go back to classroom”.
