The Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has rejected a proposal by the government to start implementing their new conditions of service from 2026.
At a meeting held on Monday, June 9 — convened by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour, and others — government officials said budgetary constraints was making it impossible to meet the union’s demands this year.
Instead, they proposed deferring payment to the 2026 budget cycle.
The talks, Graphic Online understands collapsed without a resolution.
Commenting on the development in a television interview with TV3 the programme Ghana Tonight on Monday [June 9], the GRNMA Vice President Samuel Alagkora Akologo criticised the government’s proposal, calling it a betrayal of trust.
He said the union would continue its strike until the government honours its commitments.
“We were invited for a meeting this morning. Unfortunately, the government’s proposal was that while they acknowledge the delay, and that we deserve what is contained in the agreement, they have budgetary constraints. For that reason, we must wait until 2026 for the conditions of service to be implemented,” Mr Akologo said.
“This is where some of us now confirm our earlier belief that the employer had no intention of implementing our conditions of service.”
Mr Akologo accused the government of engaging the union in prolonged talks with no genuine intent to resolve the issue.
“Those series of meetings were simply to pretend they were solving the problem when in fact they had no actual interest in dealing with it,” he said.
Disparity in treatment
Mr Akologo expressed frustration that while other professional groups — including the Ghana Medical Association, Services Workers’ Union, Physician Assistants Association, and Certified Registered Nurses Association — have had their agreements implemented, nurses and midwives remain left behind.
“We signed the conditions of service almost at the same time. Theirs was implemented, but ours — because of the court case we had — was delayed. If they say we are essential workers and we are being treated like this, is it fair?” he asked.
He explained that the union had proposed a compromise, suggesting that implementation of their new conditions — initially due to start in July 2024 — could begin following the resolution of their legal dispute last December. However, the government’s latest position offers no immediate relief.
“It would be absurd for anyone to believe that the government would have implemented agreements for other unions and left out nurses and midwives,” Mr Akologo said.
He also rejected the suggestion that the government had no room in the budget to accommodate the nurses’ demands.
“We know this has budgetary implications. They cannot say that when they were implementing benefits for other health professionals, the needs of nurses and midwives were not factored into the 2024 budget,” he argued.