Health employees threaten to stop working ,If gov’t does not pay a 20% COLA.
If their demand for a 20% Cost of Living Allowance is not met, a coalition of health workers has given notice that they would go on strike by July 22, 2022.
The health workers comprising the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), and Health Services Workers’ Union (HSWU) said they will lay down their tools.
The conference between the government and organized labor organizations on July 12, 2022, was supposed to address the COLA issue, but it was unsuccessful, according to the disgruntled health employees.
In a statement, the aggrieved health workers said “We, therefore, serve notice to government as an employer that if by 22nd July 2022 the negotiations on COLA is not completed, the aforementioned health sector unions will have no other choice than to embark on a series of actions as spelled out below which will in no doubt disturb the industrial harmony within the health sector:
“25th to 27th July 2022. Wearing of red arm/wrist bands in all health facilities.”
“28th to 31st July 2022- Withdrawal of Out-Patient Department (OPD) Services”1st August 2022- Withdrawal of OPD and In-patient services,” the health workers added.
On Monday, July 4, 2022, the four (4) Unions in Education, namely Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), TEWU, and Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, withdrew their services in all the Pre-Tertiary educational space, to back their demand for the Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA).
This involved both teaching and non-teaching staff.
While talks with the government continue, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is calling with the striking teachers to get back to work.
He advised educators to take into account the fact that junior high school third-year students will be writing the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2022. (JHS).
However, the President’s request for the striking teachers to return to the classroom was disregarded by the Ghana National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).
