Government’s revised offer meets less than 20% of JUSAG’s demands – General Secretary

The General Secretary of the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG), Abdulai Yakubu, says the government’s revised offer to address the concerns that triggered the association’s ongoing strike meets less than 20 per cent of its demands.

He said although the revised offer represents an improvement on the government’s earlier position, the association remains dissatisfied with its content.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Thursday, November 5, Mr Yakubu said the government presented the revised offer to the unions following engagements with the management of the Judicial Service.

“There has also been a revised position from the government side that was presented to the unions after yesterday,” he said.

“The revision is an improvement from the position that we were earlier. Except that when the unions subjected it to scrutiny, we observed that it did not meet the demands as we had. I would say it did not come to even 20% of the demands that we were looking for.”

Mr Yakubu said four outstanding issues remained unresolved, although the association had agreed to accept the government’s revised payment timelines for the arrears, which are to be settled in two instalments.

He said the association had, however, reconsidered its position after assessing the impact of the strike on members of the public, particularly people whose legal matters required urgent attention.

He cited the case of a litigant who needed an attestation from the courts to travel abroad for a kidney transplant but could not obtain it because the courts were not sitting.

“Yesterday, I was so shocked when a litigant had to get an attestation to travel abroad for a kidney transplant, and it could not be done because the courts were not sitting. We are very concerned about that,” he said.

Mr Yakubu said the union had consequently held a caucus and developed a revised proposal, which it had submitted to the government as its final position in an effort to end the strike.

He said the proposal had been communicated to the Attorney-General, the Judiciary, the Office of the President, the Labour Minister and the Ministry of Finance.

“We submitted it last night and this morning. We distributed the other letters in anticipation that this particular one would be granted for us, and then we can have the strike come to an end,” he said.

Mr Yakubu declined to disclose the details of the revised proposal but expressed hope that the government would accept it, allowing the association to call off the strike.