Veterinary para professionals declare strike

The Veterinary Medical Technicians Association of Ghana (VEMTAG), has announced a nationwide strike action by its members over non-payment of interim market premium.

Mr. Emmanuel Eshun, National President of the Association, said they had been forced to withdraw their services because they had not been fairly treated.

Addressing a press conference in Kumasi, he indicated that although all workers of the health sector classification under the single spine salary structure (SSSS), had been given interim market premium, they had been denied.

“The irony is that, the veterinary surgeons have been deservingly enjoying market premium, excluding the para professionals who play complementary role and face the same risks since the para professional is the first point of contact in most disease outbreaks.”

He pointed out that the injustice had persisted since year 2010 and that countless petitions to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to correct this had been unsuccessful.

He expressed disappointment at the FSWC’s reliance on the government’s white paper issued in 2013 to deny them of the premium payment and said this was unjustified given the fact that what was at issue started in 2010 – predating the white paper.

An attempt by the National Labour Commission (NLC) to resolve their grievance, he said, also failed as the FWSC boycotted the meeting called to mediate and find common ground.

Having exhausted all available structures to get their grievance addressed without success, the only option left was to down their tools.

The strike action would affect veterinary services at airports, harbours, borders, quarantine stations, laboratories, clinics, slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, vaccine production units and abattoirs.

Source: GNA