Teachers strike: You cannot negotiate while holding the other party in handcuffs – Austin Gamey

Labour consultant Austin Gamey has criticized the decision by pre-tertiary teacher unions to continue their nationwide strike while negotiations with the government are taking place. Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse, Mr Gamey suggested that the unions should suspend the strike now that the government has started validating outstanding promotion claims and both parties are engaged in talks.

He likened the strike during negotiations to holding the other party in handcuffs, stating that it is not possible to negotiate while simultaneously holding the other party captive. Mr Gamey argued that continuing the strike while negotiations are ongoing can damage the relationship between the parties, emphasizing that there is no precedent for this in any other part of the world.

While acknowledging that the government's initial response to the teachers' concerns might not have been proactive enough, he did not blame the unions for initially taking industrial action. However, he noted that the validation of promotion claims demonstrated that steps were being taken to address their concerns. Mr Gamey urged the teacher unions and the government to collaborate and prevent similar disputes from resurfacing, highlighting the opportunity for both sides to strengthen their relationship and establish mechanisms to avoid future disagreements from escalating into industrial action.

His remarks follow renewed negotiations between the teacher unions, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and the Ghana Education Service over the issues that sparked the nationwide strike by pre-tertiary teachers.