General News of Sunday, 25 August 2013

Source: joyonline

JUSSAG strike to scuttle SC ruling on election petition?

The Judicial Service Staff Association (JUSSAG) say they will not call off their planned nationwide strike on Tuesday despite government’s release of cheques for their unpaid allowance.

The Association had planned to call a nationwide strike two days before the Supreme Court delivers its judgment on the 2012 presidential election petition.

To prevent the workers from embarking on the strike at such a critical time, government issued cheques for their outstanding allowances to be paid.

Last Thursday, government released monies for the payment of maintenance, fuel, overtime and transfer allowances.

But the President of the Association, Francis Brakwa, said there is still one outstanding allowance that must be paid before they call off the planned strike.

Mr. Brakwa maintains that those paid are for some category of workers, but the one yet to be paid is the clothing allowance which he says has been in arrears since last year and benefits every staff member.

"The clothing allowance is what we need most because it affects every member of staff in the judicial service," he stressed.

Francis Brakwa maintained that until the clothing allowance is paid, they will go ahead with the strike.