General News of Sunday, 11 March 2018
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2018-03-11
Augustine Saakuur Karbo, the TEWU General Secretary
The Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of TUC-Ghana has condemned attempts by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) to transfer some staff of the Colleges of Education back to the Ghana Education Service (GES).
The Union was of the view that the actions by the NCTE were unilateral and a breach of the process to ensure smooth transition and operation at the Colleges of Education.
In a statement signed by Augustine Saakuur Karbo, the TEWU General Secretary, he said the Union sighted a letter from the NCTE to saying it wanted all non-teaching staff and others who had not met certain qualifications at the Colleges of Education to be sent back to the Ghana Education Service.
“The Union’s concern was that the letter has been issued when it is clear that the Colleges of Education Act 2012, Act 847, Section 33 (1 and 2) specifically states that assets, rights, and liabilities of then Colleges of Education are transferred to the current upgraded Colleges of Education.
“This obviously to the Union means it includes all the staff whether qualified or unqualified. The Act was not enacted to have retrospective effect on existing staff,” it added.
It said it would be difficult for the Union to accept the position taken by NCTE recommending that all staff who had not met certain qualifications must go back to GES.
The statement said the NCTE, without any consultation with the Union as a critical social partner and stakeholder in the education sector, resorted to the process aimed at getting some staff to return to GES under the pretext of non-qualification.
“We believe the better alternative is for NCTE to collaborate with other social partners to ensure that the non-teaching staff, who the Council describes as not qualified, acquires the appropriate skills to enable them to meet the requirement to function efficiently at the various institutions,” it said.
The statement said some of their members who were enjoying critical support had been taken off the payroll and called for measures to address those issues as quickly as possible.
It said the Union had brought post-migration concerns to the notice of the NCTE and the management of the colleges of education concerning the placement onto the Single Spine Salary Structure where members of the non-teaching staff were discriminated against and unfairly placed.
The statement urged the Council to dialogue with the social partners on the issue since the Union was not in support of the move by the NCTE to transfer some staff back to the GES.