The Civil and Local Government Service Staff Association of Ghana (CLOSSAG), is likely to call off its two-week long strike following assurances by President Mahama.
President John Mahama had earlier told the striking workers that government can’t meet their request for an interim market premium since it has not been budgeted for and “will throw the budget completely off track and make nonsense of the sacrifices we have made together over the last year.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”BObNC0sJhycsTP6Rpv0CiX85em8Hg8lD”]Speaking at the 10th Quadrennial Delegates Conference in Kumasi on Wednesday, Mr. Mahama rather promised to consider it in 2017, and directed the Minister of Employment to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them.
CLOGSAG had earlier rejected the same explanation from the Employment Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, and threatened to continue the strike until their demand for a 15% interim market premium is met.
Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of CLOSSAG, Eddie Acquaye, said “we have taken the President’s message in good faith and we think it is a step in the right direction.”
He said they expect stakeholders involved to finalize the MoU before any decision is taken on the strike.
“What we are looking forward now is to sit down as soon as possible with the Minister of Employment so we can finalise the MoU for it to become a working document in 2017. We’ve been looking forward for the past six years for the premium to be paid to us and if today for the first time the president has spoken about our interim premium, we think it is good and waiting for four months wouldn’t be of anything of a worry to us,” Mr. Acquaye added.
When asked if the strike will be called off after the MoU, the PRO indicated that “because the strike was declared by the National Executive Council of CLOGSAG, I cannot for now tell you whether or not it would be called off in that meeting, but the most important thing we need to do now is to get the Minister of Employment to get the MoU finalized…then I believe we can go ahead and decide on the strike itself.”
“But I’m optimistic that when they meet, they will come out with a positive decision on the strike,” he added,” he added.
Forfeit your August salary if…
The Employment Minister had earlier threatened to withhold the August salaries of CLOGSAG members if the strike continues.
Mr. Iddrisu, said, “while we recognize the right to make public manifestation and pronouncements of their unhappiness, we are unable to accommodate further the strike. And in particular they must compensate for an illegal strike for not working for the period of August.”
“Accordingly, I have directed the head of civil service and the head of local government service to begin a head count and an audit from tomorrow and to submit same on Friday to my office for advice to the Controller and Ministry of Finance that we will not compensate for that unproductive behavior. They should return to work or forfeit August salaries,” the Minister insisted.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin