NLC has the mandate to resolve stalemate between doctors, government
The National Labour Commission (NLC) is the only institution that can resolve the stalemate between public sector doctors and the government, the Chief Executive Officer of the Gamey and Gamey Appropriate Dispute Resolution Institute (GGAI), Mr Austin Gamey, has indicated.
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According to him, the NLC, which is imbued with the legal authority, skills and the experience in Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, had all it took to facilitate the immediate resolution of the impasse between the two parties.
Mr Gamey was addressing participants of the 17th ADR professional Masters programme at the end of a 25-week course in Accra.
Labour Act
He therefore urged the NLC to follow the laid down process as contained in the Labour Act 2003 by committing the two parties to a compulsory arbitration to arrive at a decision.
Mr Gamey observed that a harmonious industrial relations environment and a peaceful society were the responsibility of all, and that attaining those goals would require all parties to be law abiding.
He said laws were made to be obeyed for sanity to prevail in society, and added that if the Labour Act and the ADR Act (2010) had been followed, the rift between the doctors and their employers would have been avoided.
"Conflicts will always be with us. It is how the disputes are managed that will determine whether any society will remain peaceful or will be in perpetual conflict," Mr Gamey stated.
GGAI
Mr Gamey urged the participants, who had been taken through both the Labour and ADR Acts, to ensure that they sensitised the public to those laws.
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He pointed out that ADR had become acceptable worldwide as one of the ways of resolving conflicts in commerce, industrial relations, family, marital relationships, land and chieftaincy matters.
In line with that, the institute, by September this year, would be affiliated to the University of Virgin Islands and PULSE Institute in the USA.
This would empower the institute to introduce latest initiatives in the theory and practice of ADR into local programmes.
In all, 27 participants from academia, religious organisations, commercial institutions, security services and the private sector were taken through the programme.
Writer’s email: caroline.boateng@ graphic.com.gh