Source: newsthemegh.com
Due to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission’s (FWSC) failure to address concerns regarding the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union’s (MELPWU) Conditions of Service, the MELPWU has given notice that it will go on strike.
The FWSC has not yet started negotiations with the MELPWU, despite the union having submitted their Conditions of Salaries to it in January 2023, according to the union.
Prosper Senyo Sokpe, the union’s deputy general secretary, and Dr. Franklin Amartey Armah, a member of the Medical Laboratory Workers Union, revealed this on CTV’s Dwa Br3 Mu.
“We submitted our Conditions of Service to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission,” Dr. Armah stated. “They should have a meeting with us within two weeks of presenting this plan so we can get input on our Conditions of Service.
Why didn’t they care about us?
“We sent it in January, and it’s now May as we speak. It’s similar to our employees, who struggle to be controlled at the base since they are working unwillingly, feeling desperate, dissatisfied, and agitated. According to the law, Fair Wages and Salary have not been fair to us, he lamented.
Dr. Armah insisted that by reminding the FWSC about its submissions on why they have been unable to start negotiations with the MELPWU, the union has been proactive.
“Let me state for the record that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is the custodian of the legislation that we are working with, and they should even be teaching us the law since they are aware of the law. But since we’re the ones looking for better circumstances, we can’t also act as passive leaders,” he continued.
As a result, he said, “We’ve been proactive. Several reminders have been addressed to them, and I actually had the honor of being a part of the team that visited the office the other day to talk about this same problem.
The FWSC “couldn’t give us any concrete reasons why they haven’t called us,” he continued. They advised us to look ahead because things will change, but I believe it has already been a month.
The union’s deputy general secretary emphasized the impact that the FWSC’s inaction was having on its members.
He yelled, “Our members are pressuring us.
He observed that occasionally, “you write to them, they won’t even reply, so you have to follow up and find out what the issues are but we keep going back and forth.”
In his explanation of the reasons the union is fighting for improved terms of employment for its members, Mr. Sokpe emphasized that: “Like our leave period, as of today, when you are ill, you have to pay your own bills despite working at the hospital. There are new professionals who require jobs, which is also noteworthy. When you work overtime or are at home and are called back to work, there is no provision for housing or fuel, for example, so we have to pay for everything out of our salary.
The FWSC had acknowledged the union’s right “to have negotiations,” according to Dr. Armah. He continued, “Ideally, we’re not supposed to go on strike, but you must understand that the laboratory professional that is me is also veins and blood and body and flesh and subject to the emotions of ordinary human beings and Ghanaians. We all frequent the same market and have similar wives.