Twelve labour unions are threatening an indefinite nationwide strike after September 29 in demand for their tier-2 pension funds.
The unions include the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA), the Government Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOPSA), the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetists (GRCRA), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSSAG) and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG).
The unions say they want the funds to be transferred to their custodian banks where some interest could be accrued on them instead of the current situation where the monies are sitting in temporary pension accounts at the Central Bank without accruing any interest.
Dr Justice Yankson of the Ghana Medical Association said on Thursday, that they will not allow the government to mess with the only retirement his members, after decades of service to the nation, have.
Dr Yankson warned that if the government fails to honour their demand by the end of the ultimatum, “then the workers will have no option than to express their displeasure at the employer”.
In the view of the unions, the government has reneged on an earlier agreement reached between the two parties following an out-of-court settlement over the same matter while the unions were in the middle of a long strike in July 2014, where the government was expected to pay the monies to them through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department before April 1, 2016.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
