DELAY IN MIGRATIG GNAT MEMBERS TO SSSS — GNAT blames low placement of teachers (PAGE 11, DEC 29, 2010)

THE Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has stated that the long delay in the migration of its members to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) was due to low placement of teachers on the structure which the association was trying to correct.
It said the long delay would not negatively affect its members since any arrears due them would be paid when they finally migrated to the SSSS.
The SSSS was to have taken effect from January 2010.
Speaking at a press conference in Koforidua after an executive meeting, the President of the association, Mr Paul A. Apanga, said after CoEn Consulting firm, which was mandated to do job evaluation and grading had completed the exercise, it was realised that placements of teachers on the SSSS had been low.
Mr Apanga, who was flanked by and other executive members of GNAT the General Secretary, Mrs Irene Duncan Adanusa, said GNAT and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), therefore, rejected the low placements and insisted that the necessary corrections be made.
It was in view of this, he noted, that the Ghana Education Service (GES) put together a committee with membership from GNAT, NAGRAT, GES and the Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) to deal with the issue, adding that the committee’s meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) held last Friday had been fruitful.
Mr Apanga said it was better to spend time to correct the anomaly than rushing onto the SSSS with the distortions that would impact negatively on its members. “We think that a delay which will ensure that no single teacher is disadvantaged when we are finally rolled onto the SSSS is far better than rushing onto it to encounter unforeseen problems that may defy all solutions”.
“GNAT wishes to assure its members that it will not decline to offer its expertise in all areas regarding the exercise to get the job done in order to get teachers to roll onto the SSSS at the earliest possible time”, Mr Apanga stated.
When asked about the inability of the government to pay the arrears effective January, 2010 due to the large number of teachers totalling about 170,000, Mr Apanga said based on the assurance given by President John Evans Atta Mills, teachers would get all arrears paid to them.
On Ghana’s oil find and consequent drilling in commercial quantities, GNAT commended the various agencies and the executive arm of government for the lead role they were playing in getting a better deal on the issue.
It also congratulated Ghanaians for their ability to manage the country’s democracy and specifically praised the executive, judiciary, legislature and the media in that respect.
With regard to the current political confusion in Cote d’Ivoire, GNAT called on the government to stick to the position that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had taken to bring sanity to that country since the disturbances would have rippling effects on Ghana.