JUSSAG to strike over unpaid rent allowance
The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSSAG) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike on Thursday, October 19, 2017 if the government fails to pay the rent allowance due its members.
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According to the association, the rent allowance which formed part of its members’ conditions of service approved by the Judicial Council had been outstanding since January this year.
“All efforts to get this allowance paid has yielded no fruits. We will, therefore, embark on an industrial action if our legitimate demand is not met before or on October 19, 2017,” the General Secretary of JUSSAG, Mr Derrick Annan, told the Daily Graphic.
Rent allowance
Mr Annan explained that although the salary and allowances of JUSSAG members had been consolidated per the recommendation of the Judicial Council, some of the allowances, including rent allowance, could not be put on the new salary structure.
The Judicial Council, he said, then agreed with the government for the rent component to be paid quarterly.
“But when the payment for the rent allowance was due, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) was informed, only for the ministry to reply that the consolidated salaries and allowances included the rent component,” he explained.
In view of the development, Mr Annan said, JUSSAG wrote to the Chief Justice on August 16, 2017 to clarify the issue raised by the MoF.
“The office of the Chief Justice wrote to the Ministry of Finance on August 23, 2017 and stated that the rent allowance is not part of the consolidated salary that had been paid.
“The Ministry has, however, not replied to the letter written by the Office of the Chief Justice,’’ he said.
JUSSAG strikes
This is not the first time JUSSAG has threatened to embark on strike in relation to its conditions of service.
In 2016, it embarked on three industrial actions after its members accused the government of dragging its feet in the consolidation of its salaries and allowances as recommended by the Judicial Council.
The strikes crippled the justice delivery system of the country, leaving many court patrons stranded.
Judges and magistrates
Apart from JUSSAG, circuit court judges and magistrates last month also threatened to withdraw their services over the non-payment of their allowances and delay in an upward review of their salaries which was approved by the Judicial Council in 2012.
They have hinted that they would withdraw their services before the new legal year kicks in on October 9, 2017.
