The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) is scheduled to meet Organised Labour today Tuesday July 12, 2022 to begin moves to avert a looming nationwide strike by the labour front.
Per report, the Commission will commence negotiations with the 23 labour unions and associations on their demands in a meeting which will be held at the Ministry of Health conference room in Accra.
This follows the emergency meeting held between the government team and organised labour on Friday, July 8, to discuss the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA).
In a statement issued and signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FWSC, Benjamin Arthur, in Accra, named the government team that was expected to be at the meeting to be representatives from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the FWSC, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of National Security, Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the Ghana Education Service.
For organised labour, the unions and associations that are expected to be at the meeting are the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Ghana Federation of Labour, Forum of Public Sector Associations/Unions, the Public Services Workers’ Union, the Health Services Workers’ Union, the Construction and Building Materials Workers Union and the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU).
The others are Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana, Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana, Ghana National Association of Teachers, Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana, National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Ghana Federation of Disabled Workers’ Union, Accra Rehabilitation Centre and the Ghana Registered Nurses’ Association.
The rest are the Ghana Medical Association, Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association, the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana, the Senior Staff Association – Universities of Ghana, Ghana Association of University Administrators, Technical University Administrators Association of Ghana and the Technical University Senior Administrators Association of Ghana.
Meanwhile, the government has expressed its commitment to engage organised labour to find a lasting solution to the problem and, therefore, appealed to the various teacher unions to call off their current industrial action.
By Vincent Kubi