For more than a decade, over 4,500 security officers under the Teachers and Educational Workers union, TEWU have guarded schools, offices, and educational facilities across Ghana — often through lonely nights, weekends, and public holidays — without receiving the allowances they say are rightfully theirs.
Now, exhausted by years of silence and broken promises, the union says enough is enough.
At this year’s World Education Support Personnel Day in Accra, emotions ran high as TEWU leaders painted a grim picture of workers battling financial hardship, frustration, and what they describe as fourteen years of neglect following the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Structure in 2012.
According to the union, overtime, weekend, and public holiday allowances for security personnel were effectively cancelled under the salary restructuring, despite remaining clearly captured in their conditions of service.
Since then, repeated petitions, letters, and appeals to authorities — including the Ministry of Finance — have allegedly gone unanswered.
For many of the affected officers, the consequences have been devastating.
TEWU says the prolonged non-payment has severely affected the pensions, livelihoods, and welfare of members who continue to work under difficult and often dangerous conditions.
General Secretary of TEWU, King James Azortibah delivered a stern warning during the event, directing security officers to immediately withdraw weekend and public holiday services until their grievances are addressed.
“We have asked the security not to work Saturday, Sunday and public holidays from now, pending the payment of the arrears from January 2026 to May 2026. If that is not done, we want to say it clear — our senior high schools are under threat, our district offices, regional offices and even the headquarters are under threat,” he declared.
His comments underscored growing fears over the safety of educational institutions should the industrial action persist.
But beyond unpaid allowances, TEWU leaders revealed another troubling reality confronting officers on the frontlines — increasing cases of snake and scorpion bites suffered during night duties.
Chairperson of TEWU, Salamatu Braimah passionately appealed to government, educational authorities, and school administrators to recognize the critical contribution of support staff within Ghana’s education system.
“We, the members of TEWU TUC Ghana, wish to use this occasion to urge government, management of educational institutions, and academic staff to recognize the significant complementary roles played by education support personnel in the education sector and remunerate us accordingly,” she said.
Braimah also accused some institutions of repeatedly violating the union’s conditions of service.
“The leadership of TEWU wishes to sound a note of caution to management within the education sector, especially the Ghana Education Service, which often violates our conditions of service,” she stated.
“We urge them to desist from such practices and to respect both the spirit and the letter of the document. The leave days stipulated in our conditions of service should be strictly adhered to; otherwise, the matter may have to be pursued in a court of competent jurisdiction.”
However, the union’s claims drew a sharp response from Municipal Director of Education for Ayawaso North, Emmanuel Tachie who represented the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service at the event.
Tachie cautioned TEWU leadership against actions he believes could disrupt the education system and questioned the work ethic of some support staff.
“You have rights and responsibilities. We have issues with you on leaves in GES not because we have, but you have caused it to happen,” he argued.
“The teaching staff has a structured system where sometimes they may close at 2 o’clock, but let’s go to the TEWU offices — by 2 o’clock they have closed.”
By Daniel Opoku
