This article examines the 2005 and 2006 strike actions of the National Association
of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT). It seeks to investigate the root causes of teacher
grievances during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s administration;
government responses to these agitations; and, finally, to highlight significant
contours of the political economy of labour relations in Ghana’s public education
sector. It is demonstrated that, among other things, it was the lackadaisical
attitude of government, the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service
in resolving the teachers’ grievances that resulted in the 2005 and 2006 strikes.
I also argue that the posturing of the government and its institutions in resolving
the teacher’s grievances, once the strike had started, entrenched the attitudes
of the striking teachers and prolonged the strike action. Government’s failure
to stifle teacher’s discontent and find an amicable settlement resulted in legal
pressure and threats of dismissal aimed at compelling the striking teachers to
end their action. Government also attempted to drive a wedge between NAGRAT
and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) by hiding behind the
technicality of the use of the collective bargaining certificate in the education
sector, and presented the strike action as a rift between GNAT and NAGRAT,
rather than between NAGRAT and the government. Furthermore, government
sought, subtly, to pitch the public (at least its sympathisers) against the striking teachers by constructing the strike action as politically inspired to discredit its
administration. Primary sources used for the article were drawn from personal
interviews, newspaper reports, observations, and official union documents,
which include letters, memoranda and press releases

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Keywords

Ghana, Ghana Education Service, Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers, strikes, teachers’ unions