The National Labour Commission (NLC), has directed the leadership of the Health Services Workers’ Union to suspend its strike with immediate effect.
The directive comes as a result of the failure of the Health Services Workers’ Union to call off the industrial action after a meeting with the government.
The workers, who are made up of record personnel, lab technicians, orderlies among others, say governments have over the years, turned a blind eye to their plight.
But Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Ofosu Asamoah, called on the union to appear before the commission for deliberations and negotiations on its concerns about conditions of service.
According to him, the union didn’t inform them (NLA) of their action before embarking on same.
“We have directed them to call off the strike and appear before the commission to settle the matter. They didn’t inform us of their action but we heard on the radio and we quickly contacted the ministry about it and they said they have also heard about it so negotiations are ongoing and we’ve asked them to call off the strike and appear before us.”
About the strike
The group is striking over what it calls poor conditions of service.
It says the government has failed to review the conditions of service of its members as agreed upon in 2016, but rather, that of their sister unions has been reviewed on two occasions.
The leadership of the HSWU says this blatant disregard for the plight of its over 40,000 members across the country has compelled them to take the decision to lay down their tools.
Addressing journalists in Accra, the General Secretary of the Health Services Workers’ Union, Franklin Owusu Ansah, entreated all members to take part in the strike until they receive a favourable response from the government.
“It is not the wish of the union to cause industrial disharmony and disrupt the smooth delivery of health services, but the continuous disregard by the government to respond to our simple request has pushed us to the wall and this far.”
