The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, last Friday announced that government had\u00a0lodged a formal complaint at the National Labour Commission<\/strong><\/span><\/a> (NLC) \u201cas the action of the public sector workers is in contravention of the labour Act Act 651 because they ought to have served government notice.\u201d<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”X58IeSb4mPCwu0JtTegp09yZh8ocJ4oo”]However, \u00a0the NLC has confirmed to Citi News<\/strong> that the complaint they received from the \u00a0government calling for the Commission’s intervention in the dispute has been withdrawn.<\/p>\n The Executive Secretary of the NLC, Dr Bernice Welbeck, said: “Records show that on Thusrday, October 23 a complaint was filed by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations but the following day we received a letter withdrawing the complaint from the Commission. So as we speak at the moment, there is no complaint before the labour commission.”<\/p>\n She added that as the NLC’s intervention has not been sought on the matter, they cannot be involved in the dispute.<\/p>\n The strike by the labour unions has been criticised by the government who believe it is unlawful and unnecessary<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n However, several groups are in support of the labour unions’ actions including policy think tank IMANI Ghana<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, who told Citi News<\/strong>\u00a0that they believed it was justified after\u00a0\u201cvery little efforts were made\u201d following appeals to the government to address the concerns of the unions.<\/p>\n Three teacher unions have also announced a separate strike<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, demanding the payment of of their transfer grants and vehicle maintenance allowances which have been in arrears for months.<\/p>\n The Eduaction Ministry has expressed its helplessness on the situation<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0due to the failure of the Finance Ministry to release the funds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n![\"LABOUR-620x330\"](\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/LABOUR-620x3302.jpg\")
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