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General News of Friday, 9 June 2006

Source: GNA

GRASAG appeals to striking workers

Accra, June 9, GNA - The Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) on Friday appealed to the striking doctors, health workers and members of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) to call off their strike actions while efforts were being made to meet their demands.

A statement signed by Mr Bertrand Russel Quaye, National President of the Association, said as post-graduate students, it would be sad on their part if they were reserved and watched these occurrences go on unconcerned.

The statement said it had got to a level where unfortunately even experts in labour law and human resource had had to differ in interpretation of the law with regard to compliance. The Association said human life could not be compared to the manufacturing of goods in industry adding "if time is lost, we can use overtime to make up for losses, but lives once lost can never be gained".

The money would come eventually when issues were resolved but one could not manufacture life, it said adding that at the end of it all it is the poor, vulnerable and the nation that would be affected. The Association stated that since monies were to be taken out of the basket to meet the demands made on the Government by all sectors of the economy, it would be prudent that their productivity and service delivery would increase to meet the demands made by all workers of the country.

The Association advised workers, whether in Government or the private sector, to bear with their employers in the course of their negotiation, looking at the cost and benefit to each other. In the same vein employers and human resource managers, especially, should be more pro-active in entering into negotiations before industrial action occurs.