Government working out policy on striking doctors

The government has begun discussions on a new policy that will mandate workers who go on strike to lose their salaries for the period of the industrial action, a Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said.

He said it was now becoming fashionable for workers to go on strike when all the procedures for the amicable solution of their grievances had not been pursued, hence the need for the policy intended to ensure that workers become responsible for their actions.

In an interview, Mr Ablakwa said workers categorised as essential service providers would also be affected by the new policy.

He said hitherto, workers were paid, irrespective of the fact that they were on strike and notwithstanding the period of the strike.

“Workers will have to bear the consequences of their action,” he said, adding, “We want to create a fair society in which we are held accountable for our actions.”

Doctors declared a nation-wide strike, effective Saturday, October 8, 2011, to protest their grading structure for migrating them onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has also declared a strike to press home their demand for the government to pay arrears due them after they had been migrated onto the structure.

Source: Daily Graphic