The staff union of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has defended its indefinite strike, saying it is borne out of the government’s neglect of the demands of its members.
The aggrieved staff of NCCE declared an indefinite strike on Wednesday, September 18, in protest against the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission’s (FWSC) failure to negotiate allowances for its members.
Rebecca Colecraft, Chairperson of the NCCE Divisional Union of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) under the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana, told Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Citi FM that the decision of her members to strike means that they “have been pushed to the wall and can no longer breath, and that is why we are crying out.”
Rebecca Colecraft told Sanda that the union had submitted proposals to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) in May 2023 only to be called for a meeting on September 4 and be told their demands cannot be met due to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditionalities.
“What we are asking for is an increase to our institution-specific allowance, which was last done in 2019. We have submitted a proposal to FSWC through the Public Workers Union and it took a year for us to get a response.
“We were working all these while despite the challenges we were facing. On July 31, 2024, an August 4 meeting was postponed and we met on September 4 and they met us with a ridiculous explanation that because of IMF conditionalities, they were unable to increase our allowance and at this point, we are asking the government to listen to us.”