The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has threatened to embark on a series of strikes if the problems with the payment of their conversion difference and pension contributions are not resolved in two months.
An Accra Fast Track High Court last year ruled against the GMA over the payment of conversion difference by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).
This was after the Commission protested a directive from the National Labour Commission (NLC) and proceeded to resolve the matter in court.
However, President of the Association, Dr Opoku Adusei in an interview with Citi News said doctors will not be cowed by a court process in demanding what is due them.
He warned that by the end of May 2015, “if the issue of conversion difference is not resolved, it may lead us to further actions.”
He explained that since their migration from the health services salary structure to the Single Spine pay structure, the basic salary of doctors including their taxes, deductions and their pensions at Social Security and National Insurance Trust( SSNIT) were all reduced “and because of that, when we go on retirement, your pension money is also reduced from 2010.”
According to Dr. Adusei, the only thing which will correct that anomaly is the conversion difference.
He complained that their quest to get the problem fixed fell on deaf ears which forced them to partially withdraw their services sometime last year, “but government as usual took us to court and now government has gone to sleep since that time.”
He indicated that although the government used the court processes to gag the GMA, the Association is willing to give the government another chance to resolve the matter.
“So we are giving government another chance and I think two months is enough time for it to be resolved,” he said.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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