Due to their demand for a cost-of-living allowance, representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the National Graduate Association of Teachers (NAGRAT) have left negotiations with the government (COLA).
The two groups charged that the administration had betrayed their trust by pushing them to end their strike before talks.
“The government side is not prepared to continue negotiations unless the teacher unions call off the strike, as indicated by their request and indication that we end our strike before conversations start. This is a betrayal of trust since they have held the entire organized labor as hostage.
NAGRAT President Angel Carbonu told the reporters on Tuesday, “Right now since we are undesirable, before they even walk us out of the meeting, we are walking out of the meeting ourselves.
Meanwhile, today’s meeting has been adjourned indefinitely.
The adjournment, according to Bright Wereko-Brobbey, deputy minister of employment and labor relations, was brought on by some unions’ refusal to end their strike before talks could begin.
We’ve had to adjourn the meeting since both the government and labor believe that we cannot accomplish this while a party is on strike. It has been decided that we will separate to have private conversations. They end the strike, and we get together once more,” he told Joy News.
At the meeting were other government representatives as well as the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labor Relations, Bright Wereko-Brobbey.
He noted that the meeting will be reconvened in the course of the week for negotiations to continue.
This is the second time that talks between the administration and the teacher unions have stalled without a resolution. Since last Tuesday, the teachers have been on strike.
