Govt, JUSAG unable to reach agreement

For the fourth consecutive time, the government and the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) on Monday failed to reach an agreement for members of the association to call off their strike.

The two sides appeared to have taken entrenched positions after more than three hours of talks, which failed to resolve the impasse.

That picture was clearly painted by the President of JUSAG, Mr Alex Nartey, when he failed to join the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, to brief the press after their deliberations.

Mr Nartey, who had joined the minister to brief the press after their first meeting last Tuesday, walked out of  the press conference even before it started, saying there was no need for him to be there.

'The minister is speaking on behalf of the government and so we are leaving,' he said.

Strike
Members of JUSAG declared an indefinite strike on May 20, 2016, accusing the government of delaying the implementation of their consolidated salaries as recommended by the Judicial Council.

According to the association, the government had failed to honour its part of an agreement to implement the new salary structure after it appealed to JUSAG members to call off an earlier strike on April 1, 2016.

The association has taken an entrenched position to remain on strike until the government meets its demands.

Briefing
Briefing the media, Mr Iddrisu said he was optimistic that progress was being made and that the association would likely call off the strike by today for negotiations into the matter to continue on Wednesday.

'Some progress has been made and tomorrow there will be a major definite pronouncement on the future of the strike. The government negotiating team is holding itself in readiness for further clarification on the referral to the President and other matters associated with the issue,'' he said.

When asked whether it was not a repetition of what he had said after the first meeting last week, Mr Iddrisu said he was confident that the strike would be called off today to allow negotiations to continue.

'We are definite about what the government can do between now and January 2017, but my confidence level is higher than last week and I believe that something positive will come out by the close of work tomorrow,'' he stated.

JUSAG's reaction
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Nartey explained that he failed to stay with the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations for the press conference because there was nothing concrete for him to talk about.

He, however, said he was hopeful something good would come out of the next meeting.

'So long as we are talking, then we are making progress, but I need to get back to my members and explain things to them. Then, hopefully, we will move on,'' he said.