JUSAG, Lab Professionals Threaten Strike

Two workers’ unions have threatened to embark on an industrial action to press home their demand for improved conditions of service and payment of approved salaries.

The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) and the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union (MELPWU) said they would be compelled to lay down their tools if the government does not address their grievances.

Abdulai Yakubu, General Secretary of JUSAG, stated that the government had failed to pay his members the approved salaries owed to them, with all arrears dated from January to May.

In a notice issued last Friday, JUSAG said an indefinite strike would be declared until “we have the approval and payment of the new salaries with all the arrears from January to May 2023.”

“Should the government not respond favourably by Friday, May 12, all staff of the Judicial Service will wear red armbands from Monday, May 15, and that shall continue for one week,” the notice indicated.

“At this moment, we have to say, enough is enough. We can’t bear it any longer. Our industrial action plans have been activated,” the notice read in part, and added that the National Labour Commission (NLC) had been duly notified of their intention to proceed on strike.

While JUSAG members were about it, their counterparts from the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union (MELPWU) also issued a similar threat, asserting that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) had been reluctant in addressing their concerns.

According to Prosper Senyo Sokpe, Deputy General Secretary of the union, despite presenting their conditions of service to the FWSC in January 2023, the commission was yet to initiate discussions with the union.

A member of the union, Dr. Franklin Amartey Armah, told the media that MELPWU submitted its conditions of service to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, which the commission should have responded to within two weeks of submission.

He accused the FWSC of ignoring their proposal, claiming, “We sent it in January. We are now in the month of May. It’s like our members are working unhappily; they’re desperate, frustrated, and agitated at the bottom, and leadership is struggling to keep them in check.”

Dr. Armah argued that the union had been proactive in reminding the FWSC of its submissions, urging the commission to begin negotiations.

The FWSC, he claimed, had not given them any tangible reasons they had not called them, adding they only told MELPWU to stay optimistic because things would improve, “but it has already been a month.”