Nurses, Teachers to join the show down

The unprecedented industrial unrest facing the country seems to be getting worse with nurses, teachers and workers at the Judicial Service set to take industrial action to back their demands for more pay.

The Forum of Understanding which brings together the Civil Servants Association, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Judicial Service Workers Union and the Ghana Registered Nurses Association has been notified of the decision. Individual associations will ballot their respective members before any final decision is taken.

Already the Civil Servants Association has decided to embark on daily demonstrations throughout the country until the government meets the Association's demands for improved remunerations and other working conditions.

In a related development, Mr Chigabatia, executive secretary of the Civil Servants Association, has said that the 15 percent salary increase announced by government was regarded as "Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)".

Speaking at an interview, Mr Chigabatia said the "Government's gesture" was not part of the negotiations and "would never be regarded as part of the negotiations with government."

Mr Chigabatia said the Gyampo Commission had recommended the closing of the salary disparity gap between civil servants and other public servants, and stressed that "the Government had not made any attempt to address that issue." "I can assure you that the 51.9 per cent salary increase the Civil servants Association is demanding is not negotiable", he added.

Commenting on government's policies on labour matters, Mr. Chigabatia remarked that "it is regrettable there is no cohesion in the policy making process." He referred to the speech delivered by the vice-President, Mr K.N. Arkaah, at the May Day parade, and noted that the Vice-President only expressed his personal sentiments on labour matters, and not government policy. He said occasions like May Day required concrete labour policy statements by the government. He added that "recognising workers problems and solving workers problems are tow different issues." He said the government seems to recognise the plight of workers but is refusing to solve them and warned that "until our grievances are met, the industrial action would continue daily..... and after a certain period, a new strategy would be adopted to demand our right."