Govt, GMA continue to tango over conditions of service
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Mr George Smith-Graham, have debunked rumours that negotiations with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) have stalled.
But the President of the GMA, Dr Kwabena Adusei-Poku, in a riposte, said negotiations were far from being progressive.
He told the Daily Graphic in an interview that no progress had been made so long as there was no signed conditions of service.
He said the government had not yet acquiesced to some of the demands made by the GMA and that until that was achieved, progress would not have been made.
Messrs Iddrisu and Smith-Graham made the rebuttal at a press conference organised by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations on developments on the labour front.
Mr Iddrisu expressed optimism that soon workable conditions of service would be arrived at, saying, “I am very optimistic that we should be able to commit to a signed codified condition of service.”
Mr Smith-Graham, on the other hand, said, “GMA negotiations are ongoing and I believe that we should be able to come up with something more formidable soon.”
Grey areas
Mr Smith-Graham, according to Mr Iddrisu, would be appearing soon before the National Labour Commission to update it on the progress made with regard to the negotiations with the GMA.
Mr Iddrisu said there were grey areas which the government had made its position clear on, but would not elaborate, since negotiations were still underway.
But he maintained that the issue of the doctors demanding that they retire on their salaries was outside the purview of the ministry, since that was a constitutional matter.
That issue, he said, was one of the contentious matters in the government’s negotiations with the GMA.
He said those entitled to retire on their salaries had been defined by the 1992 Constitution; therefore, the government had no capacity to make any decision on that.
The government, he said, was in the process of revising and reconsidering its position on an earlier constitutional instrument that had to do with the retirement of police officers, saying that that instrument might be responsible for some of the differences with regard to retirement on salaries.
No progress made
The doctors withdrew their services on July 30, 2015 in protest against the absence of a codified condition of service.
They were demanding a signed document detailing a number of entitlements to be given to them as part of their conditions of service.
Part of their demands included 40 per cent of basic salaries as accommodation allowance per month, 20 per cent as core duty facilitation allowance, 30 per cent as clothing allowance, 20 per cent as maintenance allowance, 20 per cent as utility allowance, 50 per cent as professional allowance and 25 per cent as special risk allowance, and vehicle tax exemption to doctors.
The proposal was condemned severally by government spokespersons some of whom described the demands as outrageous.
Appeals were made by some influential persons in the country, including clergymen, the National Chief Imam, former presidents and the Asantehene, to call off the strike.
The doctors finally resumed work on August 24, 2015 while negotiations with the government resumed.
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