The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has been warned by the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) not to intimidate its non-teaching members.
TEWU accused several Heads of Senior High Schools of harassing its members by threatening to restart work in a statement dated July 7.
"It is unfortunate to report that we have information that certain Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) members are frightening our members, the non-teaching personnel, particularly the kitchen workers, and forcing them to stay at work. Parts of the statement included, "We regard the behaviour of these CHASS members to be, to put it mildly, quite unpleasant.
This comes after the four teacher unions—the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of TUC (GH), and Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT)—announced a strike on Tuesday in support of their demand for a cost-of-living allowance (COLA).
Therefore, TEWU requests that "these Heads be called to order by the Director-General of GES.
We are asking the Director-General of GES to convene these Heads and request that they stop using threats and intimidation while we all wait for the right answer from the government to our request.
The Union reaffirmed its determination to continue striking until the government complies with its demands.
Recall that on July 4th, the four teacher unions announced an indefinite strike in response to requests for the payment of cost of living adjustments (COLA).
"The burden is too much for us to handle. Even more so, we oppose the unequal pay in this nation's public services. Due to the fact that the June 30, 2022 deadline we given the government for the payment of the Cost of Living Allowance has passed, we are now forced to officially inform Ghanaians of our plan to strike.
"As a result, we've made the decision to start a strike action starting today, Monday, July 4, 2022. By doing this, we're letting everyone know that we're discontinuing all of our services across the board.
government meeting with teachers' unions on strike
A crucial meeting between the government and the presidents of the four striking teacher unions to break the deadlock ended in a deadlock.
The government "came empty-handed and so we stopped the meeting," Isaac Baah, a member of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) leadership who was present at the meeting on Wednesday, told JoyNews in an interview.
He said that the short-lived crunch meeting that was supposed to break the deadlock was convened.
He said that the officials at the conference informed them that "they did not have the mandate" to give the teacher unions' requested 20 percent Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).