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National Labour Commission is Bullying Colleges of Education Teachers (CETAG)

According to the president of Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), Mr. Prince Obeng-Himah, CETAG executives responded to a call by the National Labour Commission (NLC) to attend a meeting on June 27, 2024, by visiting the offices of the NLC. However, after being kept waiting for a long time, they were told that they could not be engaged because they had failed to obey the commission’s instruction to call off their strike.

Background

It will be recalled that CETAG embarked on a strike action on June 14, 2024. They were demanding implementation of arbitral awards issued on May 2, 2023 in their favour by NLC through a compulsory arbitration process, which the employer, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), had failed to implement for over a year. FWSC, the governmental body responsible for negotiating conditions of service with workers on behalf of government, dragged CETAG before the NLC for embarking on the strike. NLC then summoned both FWSC and CETAG to a meeting on June 20, 2024. In the invitation letter, NLC advised CETAG to call off its strike. At the meeting, the NLC declared that it was going to take the employer, FWSC, to court to compel it to enforce the arbitral awards it issued in May 2023.

NLC is Stepping on the Rights of CETAG

Why would NLC refuse to engage CETAG because it refused to call off its strike? It is within the rights of CETAG, according to the labour laws of Ghana, to embark on strike to demand their legitimate rights when the employer is refusing to do the right thing. So far the NLC, which is (supposed to be) an independent body, responsible for settling labour disputes and determining the legality or otherwise of strikes in Ghana, has not declared CETAG’s strike illegal. Is it then legal for NLC to refuse to engage CETAG for exercising their rights?

NLC Has Not Dealt With the Employer the Same Way

The employer was instructed by NLC to implement the arbitral awards of CETAG by July 31, 2023 but the employer refused, without any tangible reason. NLC then did the unexpected by extending the deadline for the employer instead of taking the employer to court to compel it to obey its orders, as demanded by NLC’s own laws. This was after CETAG had embarked on a strike for the whole month of August. The employer was given a second deadline of October 31, 2023 while CETAG called off its strike at NLC’s request. The employer failed to meet the second deadline set for it by NLC, yet the NLC kept mute. It wasn’t until CETAG embarked on the strike on June 14, 2024 that the NLC summoned CETAG to a meeting. The summon was issued because the employer had dragged CETAG to the NLC for embarking on the strike. Now, the big question is that if NLC thinks that it shouldn’t engage a group that flouts its orders, why did it engage with the employer even though the employer had flouted NLC’s orders several times on CETAG’s matters alone, yet it is refusing to engage CETAG which had obeyed all of NLC’s orders until now? This is daylight injustice being meted out to CETAG by no less a body than a legal one, which is supposed to serve justice. Is this the kind of justice system we have in Ghana?

CETAG is Not Negotiating

Media reporters keep mentioning negotiation when talking about CETAG’s issue. CETAG is not in any negotiation, neither is the NLC mediating anything between CETAG and the employer at the moment. CETAG had written to the NLC three times imploring it to do the needful by taking the employer to court to compel it to implement the arbitral awards but the NLC turned a deaf ear. This is what finally forced CETAG to embark on the strike. At this point, all that NLC should be doing is compelling the government to comply with its orders.

NLC Does Not Need to Engage CETAG

Following from the previous section, NLC does not need to engage CETAG since there’s no negotiation or mediation going on. The NLC is simply to enforce its orders to the employer. CETAG only needs to wait until the government implements the arbitral awards, which will reflect as money in their bank accounts, and then they return to work.

NLC Should Stop the Bias and Do Its Job

If the NLC thinks that CETAG’s strike is illegal, then it should declare it so, and then take CETAG to court to compel it to call off the strike. Otherwise, it should stop wasting precious time targeting CETAG and compel the employer to do the needful immediately. Afterall, the staff audit which is to be the basis for extending equivalent allowances to deserving members of CETAG, one of the arbitral awards, was reported as completed by August 2023 by the employer. Data for the other major arbitral award, additional work compensation, was reported to have been submitted long ago. There is no reason why the employer cannot immediately settle CETAG’s issue so that they can return to the classroom.

Audio of Media Report About CETAG Being Denied Audience by NLC

A CETAG Member’s Opinion on the Actions of NLC Concerning CETAG’s Strikes

WHY CETAG RESPECTFUlLY CANNOT CALL OFF HER STRIKE: A HUMBLE SUBMISSION

To God be the glory for how far he has brought CETAG as a union and thanks to our leaders.
I was happy the President was bold enough to tell the whole world that having not seen any evidence of compliance from government side as directed by the NLC, CETAG cannot call off this strike. That’s a good start; but I think that given where we are at the moment and taking into consideration what happened at the Commission yesterday (the commissioners not granting CETAG hearing), we need to give out more convincing information to discerning minds on why we are not calling off the strike and these are my thoughts;

  1. The general public and stakeholders in teacher education are hereby reminded that CETAG has called off a number of strikes in the past and has been considerate in dealing with the employer in the past but the employer in turn took CETAG for granted, a reason for which CETAG cannot call off this strike!
  2. The NLC has largely been unfair to CETAG in [sic] its dealings until now! The Commission gave directives to CETAG and Government last week and they both failed to go by those directives; a fair or impartial commission would have told the whole world about this yesterday but what did they do? They told the public just about CETAG’s refusal to call off their strike and shielded the government’s refusal to even appear in court on Wednesday to show evidence of compliance, thereby portraying CETAG as a bad union in the eyes of right thinking people.
  3. Institutions of state are supposed to apply the laws fairly to all citizens; if the NLC argues that CETAG has flouted their orders for which reason they were unable to grant CETAG hearing, what have they done to government or the employer that has flouted their orders constantly? Wasn’t government ordered to implement the Award immediately it was given in May 2023 but which orders they flouted? Was government not granted [sic] hearing when the Commission entertained the complaint [sic] they [sic] brought before it when CETAG eventually went on strike in August last year [(2023)]?
  4. After the Commission persuaded CETAG to call off our strike last year and gave the government new timelines to implement the orders they (employer) refused to comply and CETAG has written several letters to draw the Commission’s attention to their contemptuous actions, but the Commission failed to act and did not even bother [sic] to reply some of those letters. What is more disrespectful and afront to the Commission than the actions of the employer? That notwithstanding, the Commission didn’t find it prudent to decline the employer hearing when they brought yet another complaint before it on the basis that CETAG is on strike for the reason that the awards the Commission gave have not been implemented by themselves (employer)! Funny!
  5. If per the modus operandi of the Commission, they don’t hear entities that flout their orders, they should have told government to go and implement the orders without hearing their complaint [sic] in the first place this time round.
    The Commission has been bias and unfair to CETAG for far too long and we can’t contain their actions any longer. CETAG cannot call off this strike for the employer to go and sleep again for us to think of embarking on strike in future on this same matter. The Commission should direct its energy towards making sure the government does the needful and stop intimidating innocent CETAG members because [sic] we wouldn’t be intimidated!
    Until CETAG sees evidence of compliance as directed by the Commission, the strike continues unabated!

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