TEWU calls on government to be fair to non-teaching staff

General News of Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Source: Ghananewsagency.org

2019-04-23

The Union of Teachers and Education Workers (TEWU) on Tuesday expressed concern over policies to improve the well-being of education sector actors, which only favor teachers, staff non-teacher becoming an afterthought.

The union stated that non-teaching staff had a vital role to play in creating a climate conducive to teaching and learning, as well as providing quality services in the workplace. education sector in general, and that their concerns should also be a priority.

This was in a statement signed by Mr. Mark Dankyira Korankye, Acting Secretary General of TEWU.

According to the statement, TEWU members have been patient in the past eight months, knowing that the issues raised in several petitions have attracted urgent attention from the government.

Giving details on the issue, he said in August 2018, an advisory group within TEWU called "Ghana Education Service (GES) Think Tank" held extensive discussions with leaders and members of the Union, during which a number of recommendations were addressed to the Government. through the GES and the National Council of Higher Education.

Among the recommendations was the need to recruit more non-teaching staff to supplement the few staff who had to deal with health problems because of the considerable workload that followed the introduction of the dual system. way, resulting in an increase in the student population.

According to the release, the non-payment of the critical support bonus to all non-teaching staff did not help the members, as they were an integral part of the teaching and learning environment. of learning, thus playing a complementary role.

"It is unfortunate that since the TEWU petitioned the Ministers of Education, Employment and Labor Relations, nothing has been done to ensure that all members of the Non-teaching staff receive the bonus instead of a few, thus creating disaffections and apprehensions among members, "he added.

TEWU objected to the unilateral deduction of members' salaries for the GHG / SIC group life insurance policy and proposed that the police define terms and conditions that would allow staff, interested, to complete an agreement form. contract for the deduction of sums of money for that purpose.

"We are reminding GHGs and CIS to reimburse our members for deductions made from June 2018 and all other months because we do not subscribe to the GES and CIS announcement on the proposed policy. . "

The Union also expressed concern about the undue delay in the payment of the Tier 2 pension fund to the occupational pension scheme, so that the board of trustees can invest with caution as the first group The beneficiaries of the flat-rate pension were to retire in January 2020.

"TEWU hopes that by the end of May 2019, the government and its agencies will help solve the problems of non-teaching staff and ensure that their problems receive proactive attention, so as to prevent any industrial action." .