Teachers demand for New Union Leaders

As by law, every teacher should be part of a teacher union. This is thr only reason most teachers have unwillingly joined one of the teacher unions without getting any significant value for the amount they contribute at the end of every month. Most teacher unions deduct even to the point of deducting arrears yet when the teacher gets into financial crises, they are on their own. An example of a teacher being left alone is when your salary is deactivated. You have to find your own way to submit the required documents, do several follow-ups, and even show appreciation to certain people before salary is reactivated on time. The painful aspect that some teachers are not aware of is the fact that you cannot assess a loan facility during those period. What is therefore the essence of joining these associations?

Joining these associations should have provided a kind of relief. However, it is almost a burden. Once you join these teacher associations, they compulsorily deduct an extra amount from your salary apart from your monthly dues and have shamefully named this amount as mutual fund. How come a fund that is supposed to be mutual is being deducted not according to the will of the contributor. The teacher can only adjust the payment and and not stop from being part.

The teacher is overburdened with so many deductions. It is almost a punishment to be a teacher. What at all are teachers getting from these teacher unions. Whenever the teachers demand leadership and accountability from the leaders of the various unions, they turn to blame the government. These same leaders met with the government, made proposals concerning laptops, and even went ahead to sign an MOU with the government as well the company responsible for the laptops. The leadership of the teacher unions saw nothing wrong with it until the members started raising some legitimate concerns. Which people did our leaders consult before getting into such an agreement? Certainly, they thought only about themselves and some few others. That has been the trend for several years and some of us who have followed the sequence of events are not surprised.

Most teachers have come to terms with the fact that the current leaders of the various teacher unions cannot address our concerns. It is not surprising that most people are rallying behind the course of voting new leaders into office. We want to publicly emphasize that we are aware of all their tactics just to redeem their sinking image.

Redeeming your sinking image should not be connected to what most teachers are yearning for. In this age and race where information, communication, and technology is at its apogee, working with a laptop certainly provides an added advantage. It is for this reason most teachers embrace this initiative of laptop distribution. The challenge most teachers have has to do with the brand and the payment arrangement which can easily be resolved when the leadership of the teacher unions genuinely seek for the welfare of its members. Why therefore the unnecessary delay in the distribution of laptops caused by circulation of several false information in the public domain just to create an uproar misleading so many who have not followed the sequence of events. We want to unequivocally state as teachers that any further delay in the distribution of the much anticipated laptops will not be tolerated.

It is possible

The Possible Agenda

We stand for Liberation.

SAMUEL ABOAGYE

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