The Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) has called on the government to exhibit frankness, openness and trust in negotiating outstanding issues with labour unions.

That, it said, was to forestall turbulence on the labour front so as not to further worsen the situation created by COVID-19.

“TEWU will like to urge the government and its agencies to appreciate the havoc wrecked by COVID-19 and not do anything against the interest of workers unions to disturb the industrial harmony prevailing in the country,” the General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Mark Dankyira Korankye, said in a May Day Message to the Daily Graphic.

Salute

The message commended Ghanaian workers for going all length to sustain national development efforts in the past years, adding that “the situation was even dire last year with the havoc wrecked on the global economy by the COVID 19 pandemic, but in all these, workers are still the pillars getting things back on track.”

Workers, it said, needed to be saluted because when it mattered most, they always sacrificed to save the bigger situation.

The message said one noticeable impact of the COVID-19 on the labour front was the suspension of most negotiations for review of conditions of service for public sector workers.

It said it was the position of TEWU that negotiations pending, in this new normal era of COVID-19, should not give government and its agencies any ego to try to take workers for granted by displaying attitude with comments such as “this is what we can offer you, take or leave it”.

“What we want government and its agencies to note is that a well-motivated workforce is what guarantees quality service delivery and enhances productivity. It is no secret that all the efforts by global leaders and Ghana inclusive at getting the world economy back on track will materialise only through innovations from the workforce,” it said.

Conditions of service

The message expressed the frustration of members over the delay in implementing the reviewed conditions of service for Ghana Education Service (GES) staff, since any further foot dragging will provoke workers.

“TEWU will like to state emphatically that it is unhappy with the way some GES directors want to use rough tactics, by holding unto the old conditions of service, with the excuse that they do not have the signed hard copy of the reviewed document, though the soft copy of the document is available. We must state that the outbreak of COVID-19 has stretched workers all over to their limits and any attempt to prevent them from enjoying what their national leaders have secured for them under the reviewed conditions of service will provoke anger and create tensions on the labour front,” it said.

Professional Development Allowance

It non-teaching staff continued to give of their best in ensuring quality environment for teaching and learning while the union’s members were also professionals operating in a professional environment.

“Unfortunately, some stakeholders’ attitude towards the non-teaching staff is disheartening. One such case is how the Professional Development Allowance announced last year by the former Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, and re-stated by the President during the State of the Nation’s Address, is yet to be paid to the non-teaching staff, though their colleagues in the teaching class were paid in November 2020. We want to reiterate that the intentional or unintentional sidelining of issues concerning non-teaching staff is unhealthy for the education sector, as both teaching and non-teaching staff play complementary roles in ensuring conducive teaching and learning environment,” it said.

It expressed the hope that an audience with the new Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, would resolve the issue once and for all, so that TEWU members would also benefit from the Professional Development Allowance, that was announced last year.

Also, it said it was hopeful that the recruitment exercise that had started, though limited would give priority to those who had been engaged on temporary basis for a long time in order to absorb them into the system.

“In addition, it is the expectation of TEWU leadership that all the bottlenecks on promotions and upgrade in the GES will be removed so that deserving members can be promoted and upgraded,” it said.

Outstanding concerns

Another area of concern to TEWU on this memorable 2021 May Day, it said, was the non-conclusion of negotiation on the conditions of service for the public universities, adding that leadership of TEWU would like to assure all rank and file of the union, that, there was hope to bring finality to the conditions of service issue for the public universities in the coming days.

“We hope to have a clear indication on the way forward when the National Labour Commission makes pronouncement on the issue and, it is the view of TEWU national leadership that the government agencies concerned will respect the outcome to sustain industrial harmony in our tertiary institutions.

“We are expecting the National Tripartite Committee to fast-track the process for the necessary upward review of salary for the year 2021. Prices of goods and services are increasing on a daily basis but salaries have not been increased and it is putting pressure on our members. We, therefore, expect some pronouncements to be made and action taken for our members to feel some economic relief in these hard times that we find ourselves,” it said.