After the National Labour Commission (NLC) obtained a restraining order from the court against the striking teacher unions on Friday, November 11, the unions called off their industrial action.
On Friday, November 11th, Angel Carbonou, president of the Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), told reporters, “we can’t disregard the court ruling.” That’s why we’re ordering everyone back to work on Monday. Monday is the first day of the week that all educators should report to class.
He emphasized, “We are law abiding citizens, we have decided to obey the orders of the court and have asked our members to call off the strike and to go back to the classrooms, and also ensure that the directive that the Labour Commission is giving that we will engage the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relation and report to the Labour Commission on the 16th on the issues that we led to the strike in the first place.” In our work with the Department of Education and the Department of Education, we are resolute in this goal.
Since NAGRAT, GNAT, and CCT did not comply with the NLC’s directive to resume teaching while negotiations with the government about the reasons for their strike continued, the NLC took them to court.
After an unproductive meeting with government officials on Monday, November 7, union leaders encouraged their members to remain at home.
After the first day of the conference on November 7, GNAT President Rev. Isaac Owusu remarked, “I can tell you on authority that so far so good we have had a really positive discussion.” There will be a continuation of negotiations between the parties tomorrow at 2 PM, when the meeting will restart.
“We have not ended the meeting, the agreement here is that the two parties have agreed that we should adjourn and resume tomorrow 2PM.”
The Labour Court 2, presided over by Justice Ananda Aikins, gave its ruling on the matter and asked them to return to the classroom.
GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT declared strike over the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah as the new Director General of the Ghana Education (GES). They declared the industrial action on Friday November 4.
ghbase.com
