GLB Workers resume work

Workers of the Ghana Library Board (GLB) on Monday resumed work after a sit-down strike they started last Thursday to press demands for better pay.

The workers resumed work following a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) on salary adjustments proposed by the Ghana Library Board Workers Union.

When GNA visited the Ghana Library Board on Monday at about 1000 hours the workers were at post and the atmosphere was calm.

Students were also at the Accra Central Library studying as usual.

Mr Alex Huntely Sackitey, Chairman of the Local Union of the GLB, told GNA that they had accepted the MOU and had fully resumed work.

He said all the libraries in the regions, which were also closed down, had re-opened.

Mr Sackitey said the workers were waiting for the deadline of end of June as proposed by the Ministry of Education to resolve the problem.

Workers of the GLB on Thursday embarked on a sit-down strike to demand "a holistic correction" in the salary structure, which, they said, should be pegged at the levels of their colleagues at the Ghana Education Service (GES).

The workers, some of who were wearing red bands on their arms and heads, had also hoisted red flags at the main gate of the Accra Central Library.

They said they had since April 2002 sent resolutions to government through the Ministry of Education (MoE) to correct their salary structure, but had received no response. Follow-ups were made to the government but to no avail.

Mr Sackitey said they were earning lower than librarians at the GES.

He said workers of the GLB were professionals, with their lowest qualification being a Diploma, yet their colleagues at the GES, some of who had only Senior Secondary School Certificates, were receiving higher pay.