Colleges of Education, Education

The fallout from the CETAG-CENTSAG Meeting With The Minister Of Education

Moses Coleman
November 22, 2022

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The meeting was chaired by the Hon. Minister. Present were the Deputy Director-General of GTEC, the Chief Executive of FWSC, the Executive Secretary of PRINCOF, and Ag. Chief Director, MoE. Other representatives from FWSC, GTEC, and National Executives of CETAG and CENTSAG were in attendance.
The Hon. Minister informed the house that he called the meeting to get better clarification on CETAG and CENTSAG concerns and to appeal to us to call off our strike for him to intervene to resolve our outstanding issues.
He said he has no mandate to chair a negotiation meeting so CETAG and CENTSAG should not consider the meeting as such.
CETAG and CENTSAG were allowed to brief the Hon. Minister on the concerns which have led to the strike action.
FWSC and GTEC were also allowed to respond to questions from the Minister who said he needed sufficient clarification on all the concerns raised.
On the Conditions of Service (CoS) issue, the Hon. Minister impressed on CETAG and CENTSAG to sign off the agreed rates to enable FWSC to communicate to the MoF for it to be captured in the upcoming 2023 Budget so that we can be paid from 1st January 2023.
Leadership then drew the Hon. Minister’s attention to the unilateral determination of the effective date of 1st January 2023 by FWSC instead of what the parties mutually agreed on as 1st January 2022.
The Government Team insisted that once our CoS was not captured in the 2022 Budget, there was no way Government can implement it retrospectively.
The Hon. Minister once again asked leadership to call off the strike to enable him to have a legal mandate to engage us to resolve our outstanding concerns but leadership declined.
On the compensation for all-year-round work for the staff of CoE, the Hon. Minister informed the house he was not informed about the implications of the 2021/2022 calendar by GTEC and PRINCOF but believes our request is legitimate. He noted that he has instructed PRINCOF and GTEC to abolish the all-year-round calendar system from the coming academic year. He further informed us that he will not also accept online teaching mode in the colleges of education in the coming academic year.
The Deputy Director-General responded to the request for compensation for all-year-round work. GTEC has received our letter requesting compensation and considers the request legitimate. In furtherance of that GTEC has written to PRINCOF to provide some justifications to enable the Commission to take appropriate action on the request as soon as possible.
Regarding the effective date for placing 1st Degree Holders on 17H on the SSSS, FWSC insisted that the mandate they obtained from MoF allows for the placement to take place from April 2023. Leadership disagrees with the position of FWSC.
Also, regarding of regarding the stoppage of allowances for Unit Heads and the retrospective deduction of the office holding allowance of some of our members, leadership has been directed to engage GTEC for a resolution.
Before the meeting came to an end, FWSC took both CETAG and CENTSAG through our separate draft MOU/MOA for the parties to iron out any differences.
FWSC maintained her position on the 1st January 2023 effective date. They also indicated that they have no mandate to extend 55% of Public Universities’ rate of allowances for Vehicle Maintenance, Utility/Electricity Subsidy, and Security/Sanitation allowances for CETAG. For the rest of the generic allowances (commuting, rent and owner-occupier), FWSC has agreed to grant the 55% of Public Universities’ rates.
FWSC informed the Hon. Minister that GTEC shall conduct a staff audit tentatively within six (6) months from 1st January 2023 to identify equivalent tutor positions in the public universities and their commensurate remuneration in respect of Research and Generic Allowances extended to them.
In his closing remarks, the Hon. Minister appealed to leadership to communicate his plea to our respective Councils for them to call off the strike so that he can intervene to address our outstanding concerns. He also advised that we sign off the items both parties have agreed on for them to be captured in the upcoming 2023 Budget so that we continue to dialogue on the flagged items.
Conclusively, Leadership Wishes To State That Our Concerns Remain Unresolved After Today’s Meeting With The Hon. Minister Of Education.