Health Services Workers’ Union threaten strike over conditions of service

The Health Services Workers’ Union have hinted of plans to embark on strike over government’s failure to engage its leadership on issues relating to conditions of service.

On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, the union issued a communique giving government a one-month ultimatum to renegotiate their expired conditions.

The group said efforts to get the government to renew their conditions of service have been unsuccessful since 2017 even though doctors and nurses have benefited from renewed service conditions.

Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of the Union, Franklin Owusu Ansah said the government is not forthcoming.

“We have submitted our proposals. We are supposed to get a counter-proposal so that we talk about it.”

According to him, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is supposed to lead discussions.

“We met with them once, and they told us they will get back to us. All attempts to get them on the table have failed.

“At a point in time, they wrote a letter to us saying they don’t have a substantive minister to give them the mandate to negotiate. Now there is a substantive minister, nobody is calling us,” Mr Ansah lamented.

In December 2019, the Health Services Workers’ Union observed a strike action over their conditions of service.

Some of the concerns of the union include the selective implementation of the collective agreement, payment of market premium based on their current monthly basic salary, salary distortion under the Single Spine Salary Structure, non-implementation of National Health Laboratory Policies and lack of increment in credits.

The workers consist of mortuary attendants, cleaners, ambulance services, laboratory staff among others.