Bereaved families keeping corpses in various public Mortuaries in Ghana are being advised to go for their dead bodies for burial or to a private facility as the Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG) threatened to embark on an indefinite strike beginning Thursday, October 1, 2020, to demand improved conditions of service.
By this notice, all Mortuary Workers in public health institutions: Ghana Health Service, CHAG, Teaching Hospitals, University Hospitals, and other quasi health institutions are hereby directed to lay down their tools on the 1st day of October until further notice”, the statement signed by MOWAG general secretary, Bernard Kofi Jordan noted
MOWAG in the statement released Sunday, September 27, 2020, explained that the industrial action has been necessitated by the failure of its employer-the Ministry of Health, to resolve long-standing but resolvable grievances.
Members of the group have complained over deleterious working environment exposing them to dangerous and carcinogens such as formaldehyde, among others, and poor salaries as some members are paid as low as Ghc300 a month.
The aggrieved mortuary Workers listed some key issues forming the basis of their intended nationwide strike action.
1. Unresolved issues of salaries, allowances, job placements, and promotions (conditions of service).
2. 50% bonus promises by the President to motivate frontline health workers but denied mortuary workers without explanation even after petitioning His Excellency, the President.
3. Mechanization and Employment of mortuary workers as long ago agreed by the MoH and MOWAG.
4. Non-provision of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to guarantee safety against the pandemic and other diseases that are confronted on daily basis at the mortuaries despite all the assurances from the government.
5. Victimization/intimidation of some members of the MOWAG by some institutional heads contrary to the spirit behind the Labour Act, 2003 (Act, 651).
6. Labour Department’s refusal/failure to respect and obey the directive of the National Labour Commission after the Commission directed, over a year ago that it does not support or condone illegality as in the case of the unlawful withdrawal of the MOWAG’s Collective Bargaining Certificate (CBC) and there tasked the Department to restore same.
In 2019, the Mortuary Workers embarked on a similar strike which led to distress situations in Public Hospital morgues. They returned to work on humanitarian grounds as many dead bodies begun to go bad hoping their employer will fulfill its promise of addressing their concerns.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Obed Ansah
