Teacher’s leaders defiant

Some Organized Labour leaders at Thursday’s press conference, including Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General (3rd left) Mrs. Irene Duncan Adanusa (2nd right) and Kofi Bonney (3rd Right)TUC Chairman .

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu
THE beleaguered leadership of both of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the National association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) say nobody can use illegal means to oust them from power.

Teachers in the country over the past weeks have taken issues with both the government and their leaderships by organizing series of demonstrations over the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) which the teachers feel they have been shortchanged.

A group calling itself Coalition of Concerned Teachers whose membership cuts across both GNAT and NAGRAT are calling on executives of the two associations to resign because they claim the leaders have outlived their usefulness in negotiating better conditions of service for teachers but the leadership is adamant.

Irene Duncan Adunusa, General Secretary of GNAT at a news conference held in Accra by organized labour under the leadership of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to address issues of unrest in the Ghana Education Service (GES) in Accra yesterday said the calls for GNAT executives to resign are unwarranted.

In the same vein, Angel Carbonu, Vice president of NAGRAT who was also at the news conference said the concerned teachers have every right to express their views but would not allow anybody to sidestep the constitution and remove them unlawfully.
“The procedures to remove people from office have been clearly spelt out in our constitution and that is the way to go. We should all abide by the rules,” he said.

Mrs. Adanusa said “they can bring a proposal or a resolution to congress to decide if they want all positions elected. GNAT has full structures under which it operates and until the constitution is changed they cannot say the leadership should be removed through illegal means”.

She said for instance that the position of the position of General Secretary is advertised for qualified applicants to apply while the staff is appointed by the national council saying that she could only leave the office if she decided not to work with GNAT again and not under anybody’s orders.

Kofi Asamoah, General Secretary of TUC condemned police brutalities meted out to teachers last week when the teachers wanted to accompany their leaders to present a petition on their condition of service to the Ministry of Education.

“The disproportionate use of force by the police on the teachers was unwarranted. We would like to call on the police to call on the police to work closely with us so that together we can ensure peace at the labour front instead of the use of excessive force”.

“As organized labour, we encourage all workers to express their grievances. But proper procedures and processes must be followed in accordance with the constitution and internal regulations of unions.”

Mr. Asamoah conceded that there were numerous problems associated with the migration of teacher’s salaries onto the SSSS saying “we share the concerns of teachers and all educational workers and fully support their demand for improved remuneration and pay equity in the public services.”