The Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Haruna Iddrisu has sought to discredit claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that government’s “insensitivity and mismanagement” caused the wave of strikes in the health sector.
According to the Minister, the NPP is “ignorant” of issues at the labour front hence their “misguided” attributions.
“I do not intend to dignify that very misleading and unguided attribution of the storm in the labour environment. In my honest view, it is not attributable to the particular factor that the opposition is relating it to, but we will wither the storm,” Haruna Iddrisu added on Eyewitness News.
Doctors, pharmacists and until yesterday, psychiatric nurses, were on strike demanding better-working conditions.
The NPP at a press conference blamed government for the industrial strikes that could lead to the collapse of the health sector while calling for expedite action to resolve the issues.
The General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyepong said, “the blame for the current spate of industrial strikes lies squarely with the government and not the workers.”
“The government has proven to be very insensitive to the plight of workers and shown bad faith in negotiating with workers. This latest example of leadership paralysis plaguing this country has been made manifest in the strike actions being embarked on by almost every aspect of the public health sector.”
“The public health sector is one of the most important pillars of our national development. Clearly, the unprofessional manner in which government appointees and surrogates are handling this sensitive issue leaves much to be desired. Their penchant to rain insults and rain innuendos only serve to heighten tensions.”
But Haruna Iddrisu explained that “industrial disputes are inevitable, there would always be grievances that’s why every entity both private and public have grievances procedure because you anticipate that it will endanger conflict.”
“So it’s for those who don’t understand the concept theory and principle of human relations and human resource management who will be surprise at this development. There would always be demand; there would always be interest at play. Labour in many respects may genuinely and legitimately be looking for improvement in their conditions of work but there are also legitimate and genuine reasons that government is unable to meet the demand.”
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