The Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Dr George Smith-Graham, has explained that arrangements are underway to pay teachers whose promotion records have been successfully validated. He noted that the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department is preparing a supplementary payroll to facilitate payments arising from the ongoing validation exercise.
Dr Smith-Graham indicated that the process has been accelerated because of the urgency surrounding the teachers’ demands and the need to resolve outstanding payment issues. He disclosed that teachers whose records have already been processed will be included in the supplementary payroll, while the remaining cases are expected to be completed by the end of October.
“The rest will be done by the end of the month, and they will be paid at the end of the month. Even with the ones already done, there should be monitoring after this. Go into the data and look at it.”
Dr George Smith-Graham
Discussing the outstanding records, the CEO explained that the scale of the Ghana Education Service makes the exercise particularly complex when information from across the country has to be processed together. He therefore suggested that future promotion exercises could be handled region by region to make verification and payment more manageable.
Turning to the ongoing industrial action, Dr Smith-Graham acknowledged that the declaration of the teachers’ strike has made the negotiations more difficult. He nevertheless indicated that the Fair Wages And Salaries Commission remains engaged with the unions and expects the discussions to produce a resolution.
Referencing the payment process, the CEO stressed that proper verification remains essential before salary adjustments are implemented. He cautioned that rushing the exercise without adequate checks could create further problems for government and the affected teachers.
Analysing the validation exercise, Dr Smith-Graham also called for scrutiny after the payments have been made. He warned that any irregularities discovered in the records must be investigated and dealt with through the appropriate legal processes.
Meanwhile, the nationwide strike by the pre-tertiary teacher unions has focused on delays in promotion placements and payment of related arrears, alongside other demands affecting teachers’ welfare. The Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers and Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana began the industrial action on the 25th of September, 2026.
FWSC Explains Approach to Teachers’ Conditions of Service
The Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Dr George Smith-Graham, also explained the circumstances surrounding negotiations on teachers’ conditions of service. He clarified that discussions began months before the existing arrangement was due to expire, following an approach by the teacher unions.
Dr Smith-Graham disclosed that the unions approached the Commission last year because their conditions of service were scheduled to expire in December 2026. He explained that the Commission could not simply renegotiate an agreement six months before its expiry because doing so would establish a difficult precedent for public sector negotiations.
Turning to the bargaining process, the CEO indicated that discussions consequently commenced around April. He rejected suggestions that the Commission failed to engage the teachers, arguing that negotiations continued even though the proposals on the table did not meet the expectations of the unions.
Referencing the nature of collective bargaining, Dr Smith-Graham noted that both sides enter negotiations with mandates from their respective constituencies. He explained that the teacher unions have a responsibility to advance the interests of their members, while the Fair Wages And Salaries Commission must also operate within its own mandate.
On the issue of industrial action, the CEO acknowledged that unions have the right to use strikes as part of their bargaining strength. He nevertheless argued that negotiations should ordinarily continue once both parties have entered into an agreed framework for engagement.
Analysing the situation, Dr Smith-Graham stressed that a strike changes the environment within which negotiations take place. He emphasised that the Commission would continue discussions despite the industrial action and work towards an outcome acceptable to the parties.
Furthermore, the Fair Wages And Salaries Commission’s engagement with the teacher unions comes as the existing collective agreement remains a central issue in the dispute. The teacher unions have argued that negotiations for a new agreement should have been completed by June 2026, while government has indicated that discussions will continue to address the outstanding matters.
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