Teachers "worse off" under SSSS - NAGRAT

The General Secretary of NAGRAT, Mr Stanislav P. Nabome, says the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) has made teachers the poorest-earning public servants in the country.

Even though he admits teachers have seen increases in salaries as compared to the Ghana Universal Salary Structure, he said they are now the lowest in the pecking order of public sector salaries.

"I do not see any progress in my pay. For me, I deal with relativity. Comparing myself to other people, I am worse off relatively. Before Single Spine, the salary I took and what I take today will be higher than the salary I took under GUSS. Agreed, but then we have to compare ourselves to other service classifications. We don't leave alone and in that regard I am worse off," he said on Citi FM breakfast show with Bernard Avle.

He was building public support, understanding and appreciation of the strike action which has begun in earnest.

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) have outlined seven reasons why they have embarked on the strike.

They cited the non-negotiation of collective bargaining agreement; unilateral freezing in annual salary increment; non payment of vehicle maintenance allowance since 2012; delay in resolving outstanding issues with promotion scheme of service personnel; freeze of placement of teachers with additional responsibilities such as housemasters; renegotiation of teachers' retention premium and meager allowance for supervision and invigilation of examinations.

The two influential bodies last Friday announced at a joint news conference in Accra, their decision to stay off the classroom beginning today, until their grievances were addressed.

The teachers have therefore also resolved to boycott invigilating the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination and WASSCE examinations.

Attempts by government to reach a resolution with the associations over the weekend were inconclusive.