W/R Council of GNAT supports national leadership

Fijai (W/R), April 7, GNA 97 The Western Regional Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), on Wednesday, pledged its unflinching support to the association and its leadership. Speaking at a press conference at Fijai, Mr Kwasi Agyemang-Antwi, Western Regional Council Chairman of GNAT, said it had confidence in the national leadership of the association and would continue to educate the membership in the region about the discrepancies that occurred, when teachers were migrated onto the single spine salary structure (SSSS).

He said both the elected and appointed officers of GNAT are on course and had not deviated from the mandate given them by the Conference, which is the highest decision- making body of the association, He noted that there had been a top-down and bottom-up flow of information by the structure of the association, when the SSSS negotiation started.

Mr Agyemang-Antwi said the regional council of GNAT had discussed, assessed and analysed the current situation at the labour front, with particular reference to issues affecting teachers, and educated and updated its members, as well as splinter groups in the association on the new development.

He said on issues of salary negotiations, the Ghana Education Service (GES), the fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC), as well as the GNAT, TEWU and NAGRAT, are the negotiating teams, and that the concerns of teachers were expressed and put before the table for extensive deliberations.

Mr Agyemang-Antwi assured teachers that, 80 percent of the errors detected on the February salaries had been corrected by the controller and Accountant General's Department and FWSC and expressed the hope that the March salaries, which would be paid this month would be without controversies.

He noted that the GNAT front is not broken as is being speculated by a section of the public, saying that, 93We have held series of meetings with the leadership of the splinter groups and educated them on the single spine pay policy and made them ambassadors to educate their followers".

He said GNAT from ages past, had sustained the momentum in salary negotiation with the successive governments, including the current professional allowance, which had been consolidated and also proposed the Teachers Retention Premium to government earlier this year for consideration.

Mr Agyemang-Antwi indicated that the GNAT had always sought the welfare of its members, and that, investment related services, including the establishment of Teachers Fund and its subsidiaries, such as Credit Mall Limited, Teachers Fund Properties and Teachers Fund Finance services, that is in the process of being developed into teachers' bank, had been instituted.