Nurses call off strike

The Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives has called off its four-day-old strike.

The aggrieved publicsector nurses embarked on an indefinite strike on Monday protesting government’s failure to settle their salary arrears for close to two years.

The nurses called the bluff of government following threats that they risk losing their October salaries.

The spokesperson for the Coalition Theophilus Doh confirmed the suspension of the strike to Starr News, Thursday, adding the government is fulfilling its side of the bargain.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Registered Nurses Association has commended the junior nurses over their decision. However, it has condemned authorities for their poor handling of the issue.

In a press statement, the association said: “We desire that we providers of essential services must at all times receive due respect and recognition by our paymasters, and our sacrifices must come with a reward without assigning us the posture of dignity better than other public sector workers because we believe that it is the services we provide that are essential and not necessarily we ourselves.

“We take this opportunity to condemn in no uncertain terms, the disregard and ill-treatment shown our junior Nurses and Midwives and state that they have been given a raw deal as the paymaster has been insensitive to their plight for withholding their salaries for periods ranging from six to eleven months. If this is not illegal, how can a strike action be, following a frown on the ruling in their favour by the National Labour Commission that their deferred salary arrears must be paid?”