Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood
The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) has instructed the Judicial Council, headed by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, to return documents on the implementation of the controversial consolidation salary to President John Mahama.
According to Alex Nartey, President of the Association, the document, which could have been rejected by JUSAG, was riddled with what he described as “gaps.”
He was emphatic that JUSAG had given the council up till October 31, 2016 to conclude work on the corrections of the said “gaps” in the documents.
JUSAG said it has been battling with the government over the delays in the payment of their allowances from July 2014 to date, insisting that all efforts and dialogues to address the matter had proved futile.
This has culminated in threats of nationwide strikes at various stages of negotiation with the government.
Addressing journalists at a news conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Nartey stated that there had been a reduction in their demands, stressing that their resolve to embark on a strike still hangs.
He stated that the processes were overdue and expressed surprise at the manner the government was handing the issue.
The JUSAG president noted that issues concerning the association required more urgent attention.
“The indication is that our conditions of service proposed by the Judicial Council have been approved by the president…When we took a close look at it, we saw some shortfalls; there are gaps in the documents submitted to the Council,” he argued.
Mr Nartey continued, “JUSAG had wanted to decline to accept it but in line with negotiation principles, since the Judicial Council is the constitutional body to determine our conditions of service, we have told the Judicial Council that it should go back to the president for the corrections to be made.”
In the view of the JUSAG president, the council has accepted to go back to the government to ensure that the gaps contained in the document have been resolved.
The Attorney General (AG) directed all striking members of the Association of State Attorneys to resume work yesterday, Friday, October 21, 2016, or lose their remuneration.
The AG’s directive was based on an order issued by the National Labour Commission (NLC) in respect of the ongoing strike by the Attorneys.
The Association of State Attorneys declared a strike on Thursday over government’s inability to resolve some outstanding issues relating to their salaries.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson