The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, has stated that government cannot pay the interim premium being demanded by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, (CLOGSAG).
According to him, provision was not made for such payments in the 2016 budget.
Members of CLOGSAG have been on strike for the past two weeks, over the non-payment of their market premiums.
At a press briefing in Accra today [Tuesday], Mr. Iddrisu demanded that members of CLOGSAG must be at post as negotiations with government continues.
“It is not a fair labour practice to be on strike whiles you are negotiating; neither is it fair to be threatened with whether there will be salaries paid or not. Therefore to allow for credibility and respect for the process, we all must come back to the table with clean hands. You must withdraw your strike as you negotiate with government.”
He added that “government may disappoint you because the 2016 budget did not contemplate the payment of those related compensation allowances, therefore we should be working into the future and there is room for us to engage further. In January 2017, government will launch a new market premium policy.”
Forfeit your August salary if…
The Employment and Labour Relations Ministry had earlier threatened to withhold the August salaries of CLOGSAG members if the strike continued.
The sector Minister, Haruna 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.”
Permalink. Sign up here to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana, Africa. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond. Join us on Twitter @ghanastarnews. Do you have articles for publication, questions or enquiries? Please email them to info@ghanastar.com.
