The government has stated that it will hold formal meetings with organized labor to begin negotiations over the 20% COLA demanded by striking teachers and educational workers unions.
A statement signed by the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, disclosed that an emergency meeting was held between the government and organized labor on Friday, with the government party represented by the Ministers for Employment and Labour Relations, Finance, Education, and National Security.
The outcome of the meeting, the statement reveals, was that “government has taken note of the demand for 20% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) in the light of the current economic conditions prevailing in the country; government is committed to engaging organized labour to find a lasting solution to same; and that government has appealed to organized labour to call off their ongoing industrial action.”
On July 2022, the leadership of four teacher unions, namely Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH), announced their intention to lay down their tools in all pre-tertiary educational institutions.
The unions told the media that “they have severally called for the government’s grant of a 20% Cost-of-Living-Allowance to the Ghanaian worker generally and in particular to teachers and educational workers at pre-tertiary education level” but to no avail.
