Teachers and Educational Employees Union of Ghana's Trade Union Congress has urged the government to pay Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA) quickly to protect workers from price increases.
"In light of the country's terrible economic situation, we wish to say that members have reached their limit and cannot wait any longer."
"If the country's educational sector fails to respond favorably to this request, the country's educational sector will suffer, and this will have a negative impact on the last years of Senior High School students' preparations for final tests," the Union stated.
This was stated in a news statement signed by TEWU General Secretary Mr Mark Dankyira Korankye and forwarded to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
"The leadership of the TEWU has made frantic appeals to the Government since September 2021, as well as early this year and before the national May Day celebrations in 2022, that the rise in prices of goods and services calls for the authorities to pay COLA to workers, to enable them to cope with the challenging economic conditions," he said.
He expressed regret that the Union's requests had gotten no positive reaction, including no mention of the Union's petitions by the Government, particularly by the sector Minister for Employment and Labour Relations.
Mr Anthony Yaw Baah, the Secretary-General of TUC Ghana, addressed the issue of COLA to President Akufo-Addo and his team present at the 2022 National May Day parade in Accra, but there was still silence from the halls of power, he added.
"As leaders of public sector employees, we cannot sit idly by while our members are exposed to this abuse of the government taking no action to help them deal with the increasing economic circumstances through COLA."
In light of this, he said the Union had decided that if no answer from the government was received by the end of June 2022, members of TEWU would have no choice but to encourage their members to lay down their tools.
"The sweat of the workers is the oil that keeps the economy spinning. As a result, we ask the government to respond favorably to this COLA demand as soon as possible, because the sooner it does, the better for the country's education sector."
He said that this would help avoid any labor unrest, as living conditions were deteriorating by the day.
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