The Upper West Regional Council of the Health Services Workers Union, (HSWU), has expressed displeasure about the act of discrimination being perpetrated against its members in the Ghana Health Service” in spite of their immense contribution to quality health delivery in the country.
The Upper Regional Chairman of HSWU, Mohammed Tahiru expressed the sentiment at a news conference in Wa.
He drew the governments attention to the fact that the health sector thrives on teamwork rather than individualism and charged the government to uphold the principles of justice and fairness among all health workers in the country in the interest of everyone.
Speaking in a charged atmosphere, Mr. Tahiru pointed out that HSWU over the years has championed what he described as the cause of providing the rights of its members through negotiations and collective bargaining and made efforts to improve the lives of the class of workers it represents but members have observed that their employers have taken the Union for granted despite its efforts to adhere to all procedures in resolving members grievances and disputes.
Some of the unresolved issues of affecting the HSWU of the Ghana Health Service that have lingered for several years include: Selective Implementation of the Collective Agreement, Payment of Market Premium, Salary Distortions Under the Single Spine Salary Structure, (SSSS), No Incremental Credits and Non-implementation of National Health Laboratory Policies.
Commenting on incremental credits, the Upper Regional Chairman of HSWU stated that since 2012 when all health workers were migrated onto the SSSS, we have not received any appreciable incremental credits.
The National Union recently found out that the Human Resource management Software being used does not have incremental credits for that matter, increments are done manually.
He continued that in view of the state of affairs, members of HSWU have been excluded from getting yearly incremental credits, despite the fact that there are no adverse reports against them which will warrant withholding of their increments.
Mr. Tahiru expressed regret about the attitude of the state authorities in relation to their grievances and called on the national leadership of Union to fast-track the intended strike action by members if the issues are not resolved.
He said: We have over the years had several issues concerning our salaries and welfare, which have not been addressed although the State Authorities and appropriate stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service, The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Fair Wages Commission and the National Labour Commission who must resolve these matters are aware and have turned death ears.
A former General Secretary of the HSWU, Abu Kuntulo reiterated the necessity for all parties to resolve the issues as soon as practicable to avert a strike.
Story by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
