CLOGSAG jabs Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere

Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) has called the bluff of Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere over threats to coerce their members to end the one-week-old strike.

The Deputy Minister was reported to have threatened on Thursday that CLOGSAG members should consider taking their salaries from their executives if they did not call off the strike.

The over 43,000 members nationwide had maintained since Monday that they would not call off the strike if their demand for what they called ‘Top up’ or ‘premium’ was not met by the government through the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

At a hurriedly-organized press conference by the National Executives of the association in Accra on Friday and addressed by Executive Secretary Isaac Bampoe Addo, CLOGSAG said it was “utterly dismayed at the utterances of the Hon. Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere.”

Legitimate Strike

Mr. Bampoe-Addo said “from reliable sources, Hon. Antwi- Boasiako Sekyere was threatening CLOGSAG members who are legitimately on strike. We think he should be more worried about his inability to produce any report, having chaired meetings on issues relating to migration of staff within Civil and Local Government Services in 2010.”

Lack of Appreciation

He said “from what he had portrayed on radio and television, it is evident that he has little appreciation of the contents of Hon. E.T. Mensah’s Report on Payment of Premium to staff within the Civil and Local Government Services issued in April, 2012 which is available in his Ministry.”

CLOGSAG said “being part of the meeting that set up the Inter Ministerial Committee on Payment of Premium to staff of Civil and Local Government Services on September 6, 2012 and the fact that the Report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee had been with the Ministry since October 2012, CLOGSAG expected him to explain the delays in the implementation of these reports triggered by his superiors.”

Always There

“He has served as Deputy Minister under four Ministers in that Ministry, and he should be in a better position to advise his Minister and the Government on the contents and recommendations of these reports” and that “maybe, he thrives on confusion and chaos, that is why he had remained silent on the issue.

“Is it not surprising that in spite of the numerous strikes and industrial actions that had taken place since his appointment as Deputy Minister in 2009, he had not found it necessary to threaten any Association or Union except the CLOGSAG’s legal strike?” he queried.

Mr. Bampoe Addo said names have denotative as well as connotative meanings adding “thus, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations by its name should not be the avenue for such statements on the nationwide strike declared by CLOGSAG.”

Shattered Reputation

CLOGSAG said the Deputy Minister’s actions “have really shattered the reputation and respect that the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations has built over the years. No wonder the industrial scene has been anything but peaceful all this while.

“If the Deputy Minister is not pretending to be unaware of events leading to the CLOGSAG strike action, then he has exhibited short memory. He has not been useful to the Ministry and he should honourably resign or be removed from office.”

Throwing Dust

“It is untenable for the Deputy Minister (MELR) to throw dust into the eyes of the public by telling the whole world that CLOGSAG had refused to be part of a voluntary arbitration process, when he knows that it was the FWSC that withdrew from the voluntary arbitration process vide their letter No. FWSC/D/SCR.25/Vol. 4A/54 of 10th September, 2013.

“By now, he should have realized that repeating lies over and over again cannot turn it into a fact or truth. His office is not meant for propaganda; rather the Ministry has been created for professionals to run affairs of industrial relations in the country.

“If Hon. Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, would close his eyes to directives issued from his Ministry to FWSC (after being) aware that FWSC withdrew when the National Labour Commission triggered the voluntary arbitration process as well as FWSC ignoring recommendations from Committees set up by his Ministry, then he has no moral right to threaten members of CLOGSAG who are seeking equity and fairness in the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy.”

He called on all CLOGSAG members to remain ‘resolute’ since the strike “continues unabated.”

Source Daily Guide Ghana News

CLOGSAG jabs Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere