Ministry asks EPA staff to exercise restraint

Accra, Nov. 14, GNA - Dr Gheysika Adombire Agambila, Deputy Minister of Environment and Science, on Monday appealed to the staff of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to exercise restraint in their proposal to embark on a strike.

He said the EPA had in no way been neglected as perceived by the Senior Staff Association and the Local Union in terms of their salary review issues.

"The Ministry is working on your grievances, knowing very well the important role that the EPA plays in national development and we wish that the EPA staff exercise a little more patience," he said.

Dr Agambila was re-acting to a petition sent to the Ministry and other agencies related to salary negotiations, by the Senior Staff Association and the Local Union on their poor salary conditions. The petition among other things read: "We wish to give notice that if within seven days (by 21st November, 2005) of serving this notice no concrete action is taken on the petition, the staff of the Agency would be compelled to advise itself".

Dr Agambila said seven days was too short a deadline that the EPA Staff could give to anybody to meet their grievances, knowing the bureaucratic nature of the nation's apparatus.

He said the Staff of the EPA was basing its argument on the inauguration of the 20-member Standing Joint Committee for Research Staff Associations (RSA) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) on Monday October 31, to negotiate for salaries and wages for the two institutions.

He said the institution of the above committee was based on the Gyampoh Committee's report that aligned the two institutions with the universities in terms of salaries and wages.

The two were denied their salary increases since 2004 and they were patient until recently, he said.

He, therefore, appealed to the EPA staff to learn from these two institutions and exercise patience since their grievances were being attended to. 14 Nov. 05