A year ago
Today, May 10, the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) and the government will meet with the National Labour Commission (NLC) to discuss the association's plans to go on an indefinite strike.
The goal of the discussion is to resolve the disagreements and find a solution to stop the strike, which would affect the delivery of justice because the courts would be shut down.
This comes after JUSAG threatened to begin an extended strike action by May 22 if the government didn't accept their revised wage plans for the previous two years as of last Friday.
In a notice of the meeting dated May 8 and signed by Dr. Bernice A. Welbeck, Director of Administration and Human Resources for the Executive Secretary, JUSAG and the respondent, the government, were requested to appear before the commission on May 10, 2023.
The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) has issued a "Notice of Intended Industrial Action" dated May 5, 2023, to the National Labour Commission.
The letter of invitation from the NLC instructed that "with this intervention, the union is directed to stay any and/or all intended actions and appear as scheduled."
The government was given until Friday, May 12, to "approve and pay our new salaries with all arrears from January to May 2023, failing which we shall resort to industrial action," according to JUSAG's strike notice.
As of the end of business on Friday, May 5, it said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had not yet commented on the new pay for the members.
JUSAG General Secretary Abdulai Yakubu warned that if the government did not resolve their complaints within the previous week, a full-fledged strike would be announced starting on Monday, May 22.
A note sent to members last Friday stated, "At this time, we had to declare, "Enough is enough."
"We are at our wits' end." Our planned industrial actions have begun.
In compliance with Sections 159–161 of the Ghana Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), the National Labour Commission (NLC) has been properly notified of the decision to go on strike, according to the notification.
"All staff members of the Judicial Service will begin wearing red armbands on Monday, May 15, if the government does not respond favorably by Friday, May 12," and that will last for one week.
"Until we receive approval of the new salaries and payment of all arrears from January to May 2023," the statement reads,
Background
JUSAG began an industrial action in November 2019 after calling the NLC and the Judicial Service Council's bluff, who had instructed them to return to work since the strike was unlawful.
They were demonstrating against the government for not reviewing the pay of its employees.
However, following a discussion with the NLC, they decided to call off the strike two days later.
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