News:
November 3, 2014
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia and Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Hon. Ahmed Mohammed Baaba Jamal have ask the twelve labour unions to call of their strike as their continues stay off work will endanger the nation’s fortunes.
According to him, there was no need for workers to emback on a strike action since government was still dialoging with their leaders to rectify the issue at hand.
Twelve labour unions in Ghana since last two weeks have embarked on indefinite nationwide strike against government to protest what they say is government’s failure to pay public sector workers their tier two pension funds into a private trustee account.
The group includes the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Public and Health Service Workers Union (PHSWU) and the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA).
The rest are the Government Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHPA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAG).
Government has since dragged the workers to court, with the court ruling the strike as illegal but the group insist they will only return if their money is paid to a private trustee account before they heed to the courts order.
President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) who spoke on an Accra based radio station said the court’s ruling will not positively affect the strike, adding that the group was not ready to call off the strike.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister speaking on Badwam, an Adom TV programme said the workers could not account for the chaos they may create after the strike and thus the need to call it off as soon as possible to avoid such mess.
He however stated that government was making frantic efforts to get the issue resolved.
Emmanuel Frimpong Mensah/Ghanamps.gov.gh