Labour consultant Austin Gamey has appealed to the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) to reconsider their ongoing industrial action, warning that the strike poses significant risks to public health and undermines proper industrial relations procedures.
Speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Mr. Gamey stated that had he been consulted, he would not have supported the decision to strike.
He noted that the current dispute over conditions of service has existed since the tenure of former President Nana Akufo-Addo but stressed that a strike was never advisable.
He explained that although the disputed agreement had been approved earlier, it was not implemented due to concerns over its financial viability.
READ: “Aluta Continua”: Ghana’s Nurses and Midwives Hold the Line as Nationwide Strike Enters Day 5
According to him, the government, as the employer, during Akufo-Addo’s tenure deemed the terms too expensive and therefore shelved them.
“But I never allowed them, I never agreed with them throughout the eight years of Nana Addo’s regime to go on strike, because it is dangerous for them to go on strike. So we endeavor to try and resolve our matters, no matter how painful it might be to us. Including what they are fighting for now, it was there, it was approved, but could not be implemented because the employer later thought it was too dangerous and expensive to implement, and so they shelved it and so the pressure they are mounting now on the present employer, I would call it government. It’s an employer, government is an employer, government comes, government but the employer, the workers remain intact. So the employer has to implement it, they felt it cannot be implemented at this point in time, and by law, by practice, and by implication and an imposition on both of them, both the employer and the union being the nurses.
“Remember they are union, they are not just Ghana Registered Nurses Association, they are union, and there is a law that takes care of them. There are rules that govern their positions, and the rules are clear, that they cannot, the parties that went and negotiated this conditional service is the only authorized body to get together to either not to implement something, to vary it, or to do otherwise. No other person, not even the president of Ghana can vary it. And so they will have to sit together and negotiate and bring, and negotiation doesn’t mean renegotiation, it means you can remarry, you can adjust, you can do whatsoever. There is flexibility, that’s why they call it industrial relations. So clearly what it is, is that if they had consulted me as they used to do, they would never have gone on a strike in the first place. They would never have gone on a strike in the first place. So it’s up to them, because I cannot impose myself on them. I can always tell everybody what the reality is.”
READ: We Can’t Meet Developmental Aspirations Without Investment in TVET – Apaak
The strike, which began on Tuesday, June 4, has severely disrupted healthcare delivery across more than 300 public hospitals and clinics in all 16 regions of the country.
Emergency services are operating at minimum capacity, scheduled surgeries have been postponed, and thousands of patients—particularly vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children—have been left stranded.
Reports indicate that some facilities have seen an 80-90% reduction in services due to the walkout, raising alarm about the continued impact on Ghana’s already stretched healthcare system.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Hamdia Mohammed
