We won’t call off the strike unless… – Medical lab workers

The leadership of the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union has said that they will not call off their strike.

The spokesperson, who declined to speak on camera, said until the government agrees to consider their demands, they will not sit to negotiate.

According to the Ministry of Health, negotiations have not reached a deadlock, so it is surprising that the lab scientists have declared a strike.

At the last negotiations, all parties, the Ministry of Health, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and the lab scientists left the meeting without any agreement.

The lab scientists, during the negotiations, tabled 18 items, which the government, through the Finance Ministry, has agreed to pay for.

But later, the lab scientists, according to the Ministry of Health, introduced another four items which had not been part of the negotiations.

These items include communication, uniforms, unsociables, and special project allowances, which the Finance Ministry declined to consider.

The Ministry of Health has pleaded with the lab scientists to call off the strike and resume negotiations.

“It is not like the negotiation has ended and they were asked to go, it is not like that. For us at the Ministry, since negotiation is ongoing, they should go back to work as we press on the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Ministry of Finance, to expedite the negotiations for us so that we find the way out,” Isaac Offei Baah, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, said.

He emphasized stakeholder engagement to resolve the ongoing strike before the end of this week.

“We are pleading, I know the Chief Director, Alhaji Hafis Adams, has asked for a stakeholders’ meeting with regards to the strike so that we negotiate to see how fast they will call off this strike as we move back to the negotiation table,” he pleaded.

A visit to the LEKMA Polyclinic showed a pale shadow of itself. All the staff have vacated their posts.