Don't strike to resolve labour issues, says analyst

Public sector workers have been advised to find others means of resolving labor disputes than striking while the general public has also been advised by a labour analyst to make their voice heard as they contribute to the payment of these workers.

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) have declared an indefinite strike starting Monday, March 18 due to the failure of government and other relevant stakeholders to address their grievances relating to their conditions of service.

Their decision is likely to adversely affect the upcoming West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) examination.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, a Labour Analyst, Austin Gammeh suggested that Ghanaians “should begin to find a way of addressing this problem. I am saying Ghanaians because all of us; our contribution goes into paying the teachers and every other professional person that works for the state.”

According to him, the matter at hand should not be considered as burdensome “and beyond resolution. I am sure they will find a way of dealing with it but it is very bad and very strange.”

Mr Gammeh opined that the practice of using adversarial posture in getting resolutions for grievances is a sad practice because the perpetrators are educated people.

He therefore advised that if the aggrieved teachers “are sure that they have case and they are frustrated, by their employer’s attitude, we have an institution that handles these things so they should go to the institution or they will be compelled by the institution. If they don’t want to do the civilized one which is negotiations or mediation, then they should do the unorthodox one which is arbitration.”