Medical lab professionals issue a May 15 deadline and a strike threat to the gov’t

The Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union (MELPWU) has hinted of a nationwide strike following members’ complaint about the absence of conditions of service.

They claim they have worked without conditions of service for decades and it is about time government, their employers, signed their conditions of service.

They served notice that if by Monday, May 15, government does not heed to their concerns, they will “advise themselves”.

“Government, that is the President, should give attention to our request to grant us a condition of service,” General Secretary Cephas Kofi Akortor told Media General‘s Tanko Mohammed Rabiu during the 2023 May Day celebration in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

“It is a primary or basic requirement for an employee to have a condition of service.”

Before speaking on Monday, May 1 at the grounds, MELPWU had issued a statement about its happiness to join the celebration for the first time since becoming a union.

“We consider our involvement in the celebration as a milestone in our struggle to secure the best welfare for our teaming members in the medical laboratory field,” it stated.

It complained about the seeming nonchalance of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) on members’ request for negotiations on their conditions of service.

“In view of the lack of response, the Union has formally reported Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to the National Labour Commission for the necessary action.

“We shall continue to use the laid down channels, but as a Union, which bears the concerns and increasing frustrations of medical laboratory professionals, we appear to be running out of patience and may advise ourselves in the near future.”