The Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG) has declared an indefinite strike from Thursday May 2, over what it describes as “failed promises” by the government in improving their working conditions.
The executive of MOWAG, declaring the strike after Monday’s inconclusive negotiations between the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the association, accused the Commission of inaction.
According to the executive, after consulting the membership of the association after Monday’s meeting, the general consensus was for the strike to take place to drum home their concerns.
The negotiations, which had the aim of addressing the concerns of the mortuary workers, so as to avert the pending strike, failed as the executive of the association accused the Commission of lack of commitment in addressing the concerns.
They said contrary to expectation, the Commission failed to establish a roadmap towards addressing the deficiencies in the salaries of the mortuary workers.
According to the group, the Commission’s inability to resolve amicably the grievances since March this year, after meeting with the National Labour Commission, indicates government lack of commitment in the matter.
Monday’s meeting, called at the instance of the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, and attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, FWSC, NLC and MOWAG, did not produce an agreement.
Speaking to ADR Daily after the meeting, the General Secretary of MOWAG, Kofi Jordan admitted that both parties could not reach any agreement since there was the need for them to communicate the discussion to their members.
“The reason why we couldn’t reach an agreement was that we need to reach out to our people and communicate to them issues discussed. We had a meeting over night and about 85 percent of the executives decided that it necessary for our strike action to come on,” he disclosed.
He explained that the group had had a lot of failed promises from the FWSC.
“We are waiting for the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to decide on what to do next. We have given them everything and they’ve gone through, so they have to come out with a roadmap for us to agree,” he stressed.
But the Chief Executive Officer of the FWSC, Dr Edward Kwapong remained hopeful that efforts to re-engage with the MOWAG would be productive.
Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG) suspended their planned strike action on Tuesday, March 5 following the intervention of the NLC, which directed the FWSC to negotiate with the association to address the concerns.
Benjamin Nana Appiah/ adrdaily.com
