Mortuary workers strike today

Mortuary workers in the country have begun an indefinite strike commencing today, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 to press home their demand for better working conditions.

According to the members of the Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG), the Health Ministry has turned a deaf ear to their concerns which include; lack of maintenance of mortuary facilities, denial of mandated annual leave, lack of protective clothing, among others.

The strike follows a botched meeting with the between the leadership of MOWAG and the Ministry of Health on Monday, 4 March 2019.

Speaking to Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on 505 on Class91.3FM on Monday, 4 March 2019, Mr. Richard Kofi Jordan, General Secretary of MOWAG said the failure of the Health Ministry to give them a date to negotiate their emoluments with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission pushed them to take their current position.

He said: “The mortuaries are going to be closed down. People should expect empty workers, what we were expecting never came, in fact, we were disappointed…”

He noted that the Ministry of Health is “taking us for a ride, they don’t take us serious and we are not ready to die before we start enjoying what we are supposed to enjoy, we know the conditions under which we work and we cannot wait any longer.”