CLOGSAG STRIKE ENTERS DAY 3

A deserted Birth and Deaths Registry in Accra

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, October 17, 2013

The indefinite industrial action embarked upon by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) since Monday appears to be going on as planned.

However, some of the members of CLOGSAG at the various Ministries Departments and Agencies were seen at post even though they claimed they were not working.

When Daily Guide visited the Ministries regarded as the hub of government business yesterday, pockets of red flags could be seen hanged on a few of the entrances.

As usual, the daily activities associated with the ministries and surrounding areas on working days were also there.

Inside some of the offices, the staff were at their desks but insisted that they were not working while a lot others were completely closed.

Clearly, the most affected departments and agencies are the Registrar-General’s Department and the Births and Deaths Registry.

At the Registrar-General’s Department, things had slow down completely compared to usual activities normally associated with the place while at Births and Deaths there was a total shut down.

In fact, all the departments and agencies were virtually closed except a few that had cars parked in front of them.

The CLOGSAG Secretariat at the Ministries had been shut down completely and there was no sign that the workers were coming back anytime soon.

The Local Government Workers’ Union (LGWU) were working accordingly as indicated by their leadership last week when they warned their members not to join CLOGSAG’s action.

Isaac Bampo Addo, Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG has already asked its members to disregard “any spurious propaganda and misinformation that the Association has called off the strike.”

“We urged all of you to stay focused and continue the action,” he had said in a statement.

The National Executive Committee of CLOGSAG instructed its members nationwide to start the strike which began yesterday following what they termed as the failure of the government to pay them some allowances.

The leadership of CLOSSAG has been battling with the National Labour Commission (NLC) for the payment of the allowances over the years and it appears the problem keeps recurring every year.

Last year for instance, a similar industrial action was embarked upon by the association for a couple of days until the leadership called it off after assurances that their demands were going to be met.

After the strike, it was reported that the National Labour Commission (NLC) was mediating between CLOGSAG and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) for amicable settlement of the impasse but nothing meaningful came out of the meeting.

At the beginning of the strike, CLOGSAG issued a statement accusing the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) of terminating the arbitration process with the National Labour Authority (NLA) and said that had compelled them to initiate the industrial action.

However, Earl Ankrah, Public Relations Officer of FWSC has dismissed CLOGSAG’s claim and said the association rather refused to attend a meeting that was supposed to look into the issue.

He said the ‘Top Up Allowance’ which is a key demand of CLOGSAG did not exist law as far as the FWSC as a mediator was concerned.

“We have made it clear to them that we are negotiating anything. By law if you are not negotiating anything you do not go for arbitration.”
Ho
In offices at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council remained closed on Wednesday, second day of a strike action declared by CLOGSAG.

The Regional Administration block and its adjoining offices were unusually quiet, with official vehicles parked in the yard with no driver was on hand.There were notices of the industrial action pasted on doors of some of the offices demanding CLOGSAG members adhered to directives not to come to work.

The Ghana News Agency on rounds between 0830 and 0900 hours met persons at offices of the Municipal Department of Social Welfare who said they were students on attachment.

Three physically disabled women, who came from Hodzo, a nearby village to register with the Department of Social Welfare, expressed frustration for having travelled to Ho and not likely to get registered.

A middle-aged man who was also spotted at the frontage of the Coordinating Council office said he came to see the Regional Minister but found out that all the offices were closed.

CLOGSAG on Monday, October 14, 2013 started a nationwide industrial action over grievances relating to allowances under the Single Spine Salary Structure.