The Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) has intensified its strike action that began yesterday.
Members of the association insist that if the government, through the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), does not include their inputs in the payment of premium to qualified personnel in the services, they would not return to work.
In Accra, CLOGSAG executives were said to have met the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Haruna Iddrisu, but the meeting ended in a deadlock.
A source told DAILY GUIDE that the ministry was going to have subsequent meetings with the leadership of the association.
Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe-Addo, at a news conference last week, accused government of refusing to include them in the process to determine the Interim Premium and ordered its members to stay at home if it failed to address their grievances by the assigned date.
“The national secretariat of CLOGSAG wishes to state that negotiations with government on Interim Premium have not been conclusive and because of that all our members are supposed to be on strike.”
According to the association, it sighted a draft report of the presentation of a sub-Committee of the FWSC on the ‘Transition from Interim Market Premium to implementing Market Premium but they were not included even though the committee had made some findings in relation to CLOGSAG.
Dr. Bampoe Addo said that the committee had made a compelling statement to the effect that in determining the skills that qualify for Market Premium, it had focused on “the health and education sectors as these formed the priority areas of government.
“To say the least, this statement is provoking and improper as regards the Civil and Local Government Services. Based on current expertise at the FWSC, CLOGSAG is of the view that the output of this Committee would be misleading, unprofessional and above all mischievous.”
He said a critical look at the purported presentation “would justify such an assertion,” adding “CLOGSAG is of the opinion that a more competent, responsible and efficient team should be put in place to undertake this task.”
In Tamale on Monday, the National 3rd Trustee of CLOGSAG, Ernest Tagoe, reportedly said at a news conference that they had directed all members in the Northern Region to embark on the industrial action.
In Sunyani, a top official of the assembly told the paper that only skeletal staff of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly reported for work yesterday even though CLOGSAG directed its members to embark on a full strike by July 27, this year.
This was after negotiations with government failed to produce positive results on 19th July.
He said because some workers also belonged to other sister unions like Local Government Workers Union, its members probably would report to work.
Checks from other assembly assemblies in the region indicated the same trend.
At Dormaa East Assembly, all heads of department reported to work while their subordinates were absent.
By William Yaw Owusu