Members of the Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG) at the St John Bosco’s College of Education in the Upper East Region have joined the association to lay down their tools in a strike to press the government for better conditions of service.
The CENTSAG last week announced that it was planning to embark on an indefinite strike starting from Monday, April 11, 2022, across all the forty-six public colleges of education in the country.
It said the strike was to compel the government to address some long-standing concerns of the association, including wrong placement of first-degree holders, non-payment of migration arrears, and exclusion of payment of generic allowance, among other concerns.
When Asaase News’s Upper East Correspondent, Senyalah Castro, visited the college, all non-teaching staff, with the exception of the college’s security, were not at post. Many of the offices were locked up with pieces of red cloth tied to the door handles.
The usually busy kitchen of the college was near empty with just a handful of casual workers managing to prepare meals for the students. The teaching staff, however, could be seen going about conducting the end of term examination for the students.
Richard Ane, the president of the association at the college, said the strike had become necessary because the government was paying deaf ears to their concerns despite the intervention of the National Labour Commission and other concerned bodies.
“We are striking because the government has disregarded the conditions of service of colleges of education non-teaching staff of Ghana. We can remember that in January 2022, we issued an intention to go on strike over some number of issues which government quickly called for a meeting, engaged us and then promised that they were going to resolve our issues.
Along the line, the National Labour Commission also came in and at the end of the discussion, they were given three weeks to resolve our issues that were effective 19 January.
But after the three weeks, we and our leaders have not heard anything from the government.” Ane explained.
Ane said unlike the teaching staff, the non-teaching was being treated differently by the government, adding that the posture of the government on the issues affecting them showed it did not value their services.
He, therefore, stated that the association has resolved to press on with the strike until the government yields to their demands for better and improved conditions of service for all CENTSAG members.
“We are staying away from work. We are withdrawing our services. And our strike action is indefinite until the government comes in to resolve our issues. So, we don’t know when we are returning to work.”
Plea
Meanwhile, the Principal of the college, Professor Joseph Amikuzuno, has appealed to the association to allow essential workers of the colleges such as the security and kitchen staff to go back to work.
He said inasmuch as it was their right to demand better conditions of services, it was also proper that the association handles the strike in a manner that would not put the welfare of the students in jeopardy.
He said for instance that the strike was going to affect the first-year students of the colleges who are writing the First University Examination (FUE).
“The losers of the strike are the students, especially the level 100 students. These are people who for the first time are in tertiary institutions and have started the exams this morning. These are students who are going to write what we call the First University Exams (FUE). You can imagine what it would be like to go to the exam hall and write without eating breakfast. So, the impact is very high.
So, I would like to appeal to our CENTSAG members to temper justice with mercy. They should see how they can be able to help. Yes, they should demand what is due them and I support that, but they should also help the situation by allowing essential staff such they security which they have already allowed and also the kitchen staff,” he added.
Senyalah Castro
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