Veterinary para-professionals have laid down their tools to protest delays in the payment of their market premium.<\/p>\n
The veterinary professionals ensure the consumption of healthy meat products by supervising activities in abattoirs and also work as veterinary laboratory technicians.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”7YnezSSCchCib81kq7wTHGOTzADYnUSP”]Their role is especially crucial given current attempts to\u00a0bring the recent Bird flu outbreak under control.<\/p>\n
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Veterinary Medical Technicians association, Agyemang Boateng, told Citi News<\/strong> that all workers in the health sector have received their premium except veterinary para-professionals.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder Ghana Health Service, all workers have been paid the premium except veterinary para-professionals,\u201dhe said.<\/p>\n Agyemang Boateng also said that the association has been negotiating with government for a long time but to no avail.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a dialogue with government for a very long time and the fair wages and salaries commission is telling us that they cannot pay us the premium because government issued a white paper in 2013 to discontinue the market premium to people who are due.”<\/p>\n \u201cWe think it is a cheat, it is unfair, it is unjust because we started this negotiations in 2010 and para-surgeons were paid in 2011, so why would a white paper that was issued in 2013 affect us.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, the veterinary para-professionals will not resume work until they are paid the premium due them.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter series of meetings with the fair wages commission, we wrote to the veterinary services directorate, to the ministry of food and agriculture and even to the national labor commission, where the fair wages commission failed to turn up after numerous invitations. The only option left to us is to tell our people to withdraw their\u00a0services because we think the country does not need us. It will continue unabated until government pays our market premium,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n