Medical Laboratory Workers’ Union to protest over poor conditions of service

Medical Laboratory Workers' Union (MELPWU) is threatening to protest to demand their conditions of service in the coming weeks.

The union expressed frustration over the government’s delay in finalising their ongoing negotiations.

According to the association, they last met with the government on March 8, 2024, to discuss their conditions of service. Despite making progress on 80% of the items, which includes both non-financial and financial components, the union feels that the process has been too slow.

In an interview with Citi News, the General Secretary of the Association, Dr. Cephas Kofi Akortor, emphasized that if the government does not expedite the negotiation process, they will consider alternative actions.

“We are not happy about the way the government is approaching this negotiation, we started this process about a year ago, even before that time there has been a series of pre-meetings but it looks like the government is taking it slow and it is agitating members to protest.

“So for that, we have given the government a lot of time to be able to complete the process but it looks like they are taking it slow so as we speak the rank and file of our members are organizing and I don't know what can happen but we are not surprised that even before the end of this month there can be an action from our members to demand their right. “

He further added that they have been waiting for an invitation from the Fair and Wages and Salaries Commission to their next meeting but to no avail.

“In terms of time and date, we called on Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to give us the date and we have been waiting since the last time we had our last meeting which was the 8th of March. They have not communicated from their side to tell us when next we are meeting and we can't also keep on meeting without their invitation.”

—CitiNewsroom