"I will go to prison in support of NAGRAT" - Alorvie

Takoradi, Oct. 03, GNA - Mr Kwame Alorvie, President of National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) on Tuesday said he was ready to go to prison for 10 years for supporting the strike action of NAGRAT. He said the Apartheid and Independent struggles of Former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, yielded positive results and brought liberation to the people of their respective countries.

Mr Alorvie made the pledge at a teacher's forum in Takoradi. He said NAGRAT had signed about 10 Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Ghana Education Service (GES) and Parliamentary Select Committee on Education but as soon as a strike action was called off, the MOUs were ignored and not implemented.

"There is no justice and fair play in the system, we are always deceived to sign MOUs and when we do, they are not implemented adding no MOU will compel us to call of the strike action," he stressed. =93I will dare not call of this strike action until something meaningful is done about our salaries, responsibility and extra duty allowances,=93 Mr Alorvie added.

He said NAGRAT was not against the payment of realistic salaries to health workers but stressed that their present levels should not be reduced but rather, used as the basis for the calculation of a living minimum wage for all members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), NAGRAT, Civil Service, Judiciary and other stakeholders who were previously on the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS). Mr Alorvie said every Ghanaian's job was important and there should be an equal share of the national resources among the various sectors to endure industrial peace.

He noted that the high disparities between health workers and other workers could create tension.

The President of NAGRAT said presently there were five categories of teachers in Ghana which included Pupil Teachers, Certificate "A", Diploma Holders, Graduate Non Professionals and Graduate Professionals and each of them, had the right to form their own associations or unions, to fight for their rights and protect their interests.

Mr Alorvie said it was unfortunate that though the 1992 Constitution mandated each individual to belong to an association of his choice, officials including Ministers of State were "misquoting the labour laws to confuse Ghanaians on their demand for a Collective Bargaining Agreement Certificate (CBA).