Blame NLC for pharmacists' intended strike - FWSC

The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) is blaming the National Labour Commission (NLC) for the troubles resulting in Government and Hospital Pharmacist Association (GHOPSA) threats to embark on a strike.

The Commission says the agitation over market premiums by the health workers is because of a ruling the NLC made on the implementation of the premiums when the guidelines for them have not been determined.

The pharmacists have given government a week to settle its issues on market premiums or they will be forced to go on strike.

The Fair Wages Commission, however, says instead of a market premium, it proposed another alternative which was ignored by the NLC.

In an interview with Citi News, the Director of Grievances at the FWSC, Cornelius Yawson, indicated that the only way forward is for the NLC to amend its earlier ruling.

“The National Labour Commission has to right its own wrongs…by mentioning the fact that it is not the market premium that we are implementing because when you say that we are implementing market premium, you create problems for the national public system…we are implementing conversion difference.”

He added that “the guidelines for the documentation of the market premium has not even been released; it is still with cabinet…those who had a conversion difference that will take so many years to clear off, we were giving them an interim premium in view of the conversion difference. So what we are doing now is an interim premium to take care of conversion difference so this is not market premium.”

According to him, the NLC was warned that their ruling has adverse repercussions and consequences.