The Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) says its decision to embark on a nationwide strike from March 9 has become inevitable after years of unsuccessful engagements with the government over the implementation of its conditions of service.

The union’s National Executive Council announced after a meeting held on Thursday, describing it as a lack of progress in discussions with authorities.

In an interview on Joy FM's Top Story, Public Relations Officer of CLOGSAG, Edmund Acquaye, said the union had exhausted several avenues of negotiation since 2019, when talks began over the association’s salary structure and conditions of service.

“The outcome of the meeting is that we should be on strike on the 9th of March. That was the outcome of the National Executive Council meeting that was held earlier today,” he said.

According to him, “Since 2019, we’ve [CLOGSAG] been negotiating on our salaries, the conditions of service and salary structure, and we have signed a number of agreements and MoUs. We have now come to the implementation stage.

"The implementation of the agreement was expected to begin on January 1, 2025. As law-abiding citizens, when the new government came in, they asked us to give them some time. We’ve waited for over a year now, and no positive action has been taken on the implementation of our conditions of service and issues relating to our salary structure,” he stated.

He said the association had already issued a formal notice of its intention to strike on February 19, warning that industrial action would follow if the government failed to act.

Despite a recent meeting with government representatives earlier this week, the union said it has yet to receive any firm commitment regarding the implementation of the agreement.

“We had a meeting just about three days ago on the 3rd. They told us they were going to get back to us. Today is Thursday, and we’ve not heard anything positive,” he said.

Mr. Acquaye added that until the government takes urgent steps to address the concerns of members, workers within the civil and local government services will lay down their tools from March 9.