Regional News of Tuesday, 5 September 2006

Source: GNA

Government urged to be proactive towards strike actions

Juaso (Ash), Sept 5, GNA 96 A trade unionist has appealed to the government to institute effective mechanisms to avert imminent strike actions that disrupted national productivity over the last couple of years.

Mr Appiah Nsiah, the acting Secretary of the Asante-Akim South branch of the Civil Servants Association (CSA) who made the call at a meeting with some national executives of the association at Juaso, said it was about time government adopted proactive measures to avoid the escalation of strike actions.

He, therefore, tasked government to work out a comprehensive salary structure to address the general dissatisfaction among various trade unions across the country.

Mr Nsiah appealed to the government to address the huge disparities between the salaries of civil servants and other public servants within the same rank, saying it was a great disincentive towards work.

Mr K. Sarpong Siaw, the District Co-ordinating Director, spoke against the poor working conditions of civil servants and called on the government to speed up efforts to address their plight. He said the low remuneration of civil servants was hindering them to secure enough loans to undertake projects, compelling most of them to live miserable lives after service.

Mr Eugene Henaku, the Third National Trustee of the association briefing members on the negotiations between it and the government, said the government had agreed to rectify the numerous irregularities in the Ghana Universal Salary Structure.

He said civil servants would begin to receive new salaries by November and that if the government failed to fulfil that promise civil servants would embark on nationwide strike.