Government Pushing Us To Consider Strike – Health Services Workers’ Union

 

 

 

The Health Services Workers’ Union says the Government’s failure to engage its leadership on their conditions of service, is pushing the union to the brink of industrial action.

 

The union in a communiqué on Tuesday gave a one-month ultimatum to government to renegotiate their expired conditions or face a series of industrial actions.

 

According to the union, though doctors and nurses have been enjoying renewed service conditions, efforts to get the government to renew theirs have been unsuccessful since 2017.

 

It says this situation is depriving members of allowances due to them.

 

General Secretary of the Union, Franklin Owusu Ansah in a Citi News interview says the government is dragging its feet in the matter hence the union’s stance.

 

“We have submitted our proposals. We are supposed to get a counter-proposal so that we talk about it.”

 

According to him, Fair Wages and Salaries Commissions are supposed to lead discussions.

 

“We met with them once, and they told us they will get back to us. All attempts to get them on the table have failed.”

 

“At a point in time, they wrote a letter to us saying they don’t have a substantive minister to give them the mandate to negotiate. Now there is a substantive minister, nobody is calling us,” Mr. Ansah said.

 

The Health Services Workers’ Union last considered a strike in December 2019 over their conditions of service.

 

Some of the concerns of the Union include the selective implementation of the collective agreement, payment of market premium based on their current monthly basic salary, salary distortion under the Single Spine Salary Structure, non-implementation of National Health Laboratory Policies, no increment in credits, upgrade of three-level grades to four.

 

The workers consist of mortuary attendants, cleaners, ambulance services, laboratory staff among others.

 

Source: Citinewsroom