Mortuary workers threaten fresh strike
The Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike again if the government does not address its concerns immediately.
The association is demanding better service conditions, such as the provision of sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the payment of outstanding salary arrears, and financial clearance for the recruitment of 500 additional mortuary workers.
According to the association, these issues have persisted since 2019, with little to no action from authorities to resolve them.
It will be recalled that the association intended to strike on October 10, 2024, but later announced a postponement till further notice.
In an interview, MOWAG’s General Secretary, Richard Kofi Jordan, expressed the association’s frustration concerning the government’s handling of their demands.
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He argued that the government is deliberately delaying the process by requesting unnecessary data from the association, a move he believes is intended to stall negotiations and avoid addressing the workers’ core concerns.
Jordan further explained that despite numerous efforts to engage with the government on these pressing issues over the past several years, the mortuary workers are still working under deplorable conditions, which put both their health and safety at risk.
He also stressed that the government’s lack of responsiveness has left MOWAG members with no choice but to consider industrial action as a means of compelling the authorities to take their demands seriously.
“We cannot strike in the middle of the month. So we are planning towards another week. It could be the end of this month, it could be the first week of next month [November], whichever it is, we will communicate the same to the public and then you understand,” he said in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Citi News.
“As I speak to you, the government has demanded certain data from us and we feel that it is a way to delay the process. They demanded certain data from us, which we are providing. But that is not enough for us to say that we are not going to embark on our strike. We will surely strike if what we are asking for is not met within this month,” he added.