Ensure free, transparent polls in December – Health workers
Health Services Workers’ Union (HSWU) of the TUC has called on government to ensure that all stakeholders exhibited maturity, fairness and transparency in the coming December polls.
They said government should also ensure that the institutions responsible for educating the general public intensified their education on the election processes in order to ensure a free, fair and transparent election during the period.
These were contained in a resolution adopted by the HSWU after their 10th Quadrennial Delegates Conference held in June at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, in Kumasi.
The resolutions which were targeted at a host of institutions including the government, employers, TUC, Ghana, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Electoral Commission, National Commission for Civic Education and print and electronic media, asked government to ensure that politicians refrained from the politics of insults and any form of violence during and after the elections.
It said government should also ensure that the law enforcement agencies, particularly the Police and the Judiciary act professionally and independently in dispensing elections-related justice in an unbiased manner.
The Conference also resolved that some key strategic issues expected to be developed into policy documents for the Union by June 2016 should include the ratification of the ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Protection and the Convention 189 which deals with Domestic Workers and their roles.
It said “the Ministry of Health (MOH) as a matter of urgency should provide the necessary working tools and logistics such as protective equipments and clothing to all qualified members of staff.
The Conference also called on “the MOH to ensure that employers and management of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Teaching Hospitals (THs) and the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), pay adequate attention to HSWU members’ training and retraining to build their capacities so as to enable them perform their duties as required.”
It said the GHS, THs and CHAG managements should modify and expand their policy guidelines on study leave to become transparent and accessible to all employees, especially HSWU members.
The Conference called on employers to ensure that members receive compulsory and routine medical check-ups and vaccinations and that all health workers should be given preference when receiving medical care.
It said the managements of the Service should consider the safety and health of their employees and collaborate with the Union and Health Professional Associations to establish “Special Committees” at the various work places.
It called on the MOH health sector employers and managements of the Service to pay attention to the promotion of members so as to motivate them to provide quality healthcare to clients adding that the MOH should also ensure that there are adequate budgetary allocations for the procurement of retractable syringes and needles for usage by healthcare providers to reduce needle stick injuries affecting them.
The Conference called on the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to comply with the government’s White Paper on the payment of conversion difference by ensuring that members were not made worse-off by way of salary and pension as a result of the implementation of the SSPP/SSSS.
It said the FWSC should quickly resolve the issue of unfair placement of the Ghana Federation of Allied Health Professions’ (GFAHP) on appropriate pay levels in line with MOH report and recommendations which called for the alignment of their grades to that of the pharmacists and nurses.
The Conference said the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) should as matter of urgency find a solution to the unstable nature of salaries being paid to members and urged the office to ensure that members were paid the agreed salaries in line with Section 9 (b) of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).
It called on the HSWU leadership to continue to deliver diligent services to members, make follow-ups and ensure that the resolutions passed are given the due attention that they require, adding that all members should remain resolute, be disciplined and carry on their work in a professional manner at all times.
Source: GNA