Nurses, American Airlines resolve dispute

THE impasse between the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) and American Airlines has been amicably resolved.

This follows a weekend meeting under the auspices of the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Samuel Nuamah-Donkor between representatives of the GRNA and management of the airlines, at which the latter formally rendered an unqualified apology to the former for some discomfort and embarrassment caused two of its members.

Mr Nuamah-Donkoh made this known when he spoke to the Graphic in an interview in Accra at the weekend about efforts to resolve the impasse between the two bodies.

It would be recalled that two members of the GRNA who were enroute to Vancouver, Canada from the Gatwick Airport on June 20 this year, were ordered by staff of the American Airlines which they were due to board, to take a bath before being allowed to board the aircraft.

The nurses who felt insulted and discriminated against by this act, refused to comply with the directive and were consequently left stranded at the airport.

A row developed between the two with matters taking a turn for the worse when the GRNA refused to accept an apology rendered by the management of the Airline on the grounds that it was half-hearted.

The GNRA subsequently issued a statement outlining that the Airline should render a sincere and unqualified apology to the two members and also pay compensation for what it regarded as the harms and discomfort inflicted on the two members.

According to the deputy minister, the management of American Airlines was impressed upon to take urgent steps to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in the future.

He pointed out that such incidents should not stand in the way of the current trend of warm and friendly relations between Ghana and the United States.

In rendering the apology, the management of the Airlines gave the assurance that adequate measures had been instituted to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future.

The Graphic could, however, not ascertain whether the claims for compensation demanded by the GRNA as one of the pre-conditions for smoking the peace pipe with the Airline had been met as conspicuous silence had been maintained over that subject.