‘No condition of service, no work’
Nothing short of a signed document detailing our conditions of service will make us return to work," striking doctors in the country have stated.
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The position of the doctors, spelt out by the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr George Yankson, comes a day after a press statement by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations that described the strike as illegal and urged the doctors, who are in their seventh day of strike, to return to the negotiating table.
Roadmap
Dr Yankson was speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC) in Accra yesterday, which brought together all the representatives of organised labour unions and the government, represented by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), to discuss issues relating to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
He said the roadmap by the doctors for the mass withdrawal of their services in a week was on course.
Breaking the law
Dr Yankson said the government had clearly breached the laws of the country by disregarding the rules of engagement outlined in the Labour Law, Act 651, on essential services in the country.
He said one of the basic demands made by the law on the government was for the government to act timeous in relation to employment issues of those in essential services.
Instead of being law-abiding, the government had flagrantly disregarded the law even upon persistent reminders by the GMA.
Dr Yankson added that even after the harm had been done, the government made it worse by breaking other rules of engagement pertaining to their negotiations in good faith and the non-disclosure of information, while negotiations were ongoing.
"Doctors are, however, conscious of our commitments. We are committed to negotiate in good faith and not to publish what the government was offering," he added.
He said the government, instead of engaging the doctors directly to end the strike, was playing to the gallery and issuing press statements.
“We have heard they will meet us in the course of the week,” he said.
PSJSNC
Some representatives of organised labour, when questioned about their position on the doctors' strike, were tight-lipped.
The meeting was called to continue discussions on categories two and three conditions of service with public servants.
Category two allowances relate to special conditions that arise from time to time in relation to one's job, for which some compensation is required, for example acting and tools.
Category three allowances are staff welfare or job-related, for example, medical and funeral grants, night subsistence and transfer.
Return to work
Meanwhile, representatives of organised labour unions have urged the doctors to return to work once negotiations had began on their conditions of service in a caucus meeting of labour unions.
Sources at the meeting indicated to the Daily Graphic that representatives of the unions sought clarity on issues for which other unions were threatening to strike.
They observed that government’s apparent delays in labour-related issues accounted for the unstable labour environment.
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