Ministers
and government officials have been asked to take a back seat and allow
the duly mandated institution to negotiate with doctors on their
conditions of service.
Labour consultant, Danso Acheampong who
made the call says the stalemate between government and the Ghana
Medical Association (GMA) which led to a three-week strike was because
the Fair Wages and Salary Commission failed to play its role.
“If you don’t allow the institution to work, things will just fall apart,” he told Joy FM Monday.
Fair wages was created by law to advise government on remuneration and also negotiate on behalf of government.
“It
is not the ministers; all those people should stay at the background
and give the proper mandate to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
As and when they exhaust their mandate, they go back for feedback and
come back.”
Government and GMA resumed negotiations today but
there are strong indications that it would be very difficult to get
either party to soften their stance.
Government has stated a firm
position it will restrict its offer to what is dictated by the current
economic constraints. The doctors, however, say economic constraints or
not, all they want is the signed conditions of service within weeks.
But
Danso Acheampong is asking the two parties to exercise restraint and
also avoid the media commentary because “it doesn’t augur well for
negotiations”.
They must concentrate on negotiation, he advised,
urging them to sign demands they agree on as negotiation progresses as
well as noting portions they do not agree as areas to be revisited
later. |
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