General News of Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Source: GNA

End-of-Term Examinations face danger

End- of-term examinations currently going on in the second cycle educational institutions may be disrupted if prompt action is not taken by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to approve of the 15 per cent Retention Premium for members of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) within the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Meanwhile, TEWU members are in red bands apparently poised for another industrial action that is likely to jeopardize the conduct and of examinations.

Mr. Mohammed S. Bogobiri, General Secretary of TEWU who expressed the fears in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday in Accra, said the union sometime in 2010 submitted the names of workers in 22 categories to the FWSC to negotiate an approved amount.

Initially the FWSC approved of 11 classes for payment whiles negotiations continued for the remaining classes.

Mr. Bogobiri said in the process, TEWU was requested to submit its justification for the payment of the rest which it obliged, and that since September last year the FWSC had not acknowledged receipt of the justification but the union quickly submitted another justification paper, "which has also not been acknowledged for the negotiation to proceed”

He said as the General Secretary, he had been updating Union members on events and in their considered opinion they believed that the FWSC is playing a delaying tactics or refusing to give the approval.

“What pains members is that their counterparts including laborers in the Health Service have got the 15 per cent premium pay, so naturally our affected members some of whom are store keepers and are in accounts division would be aggrieved”, Mr. Bogobiri added.**