The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has condemned the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) decision to strike nationwide on November 7.

In an interview on JoyNews, the Commission's Chief Executive, Benjamin Arthur, says the group is acting in bad faith, given the ongoing negotiation for a new salary structure.

“It is a show of bad faith. Simply because we are at the table and the labour laws do not permit you to just go on strike because you feel that you are entitled to a strike.

“It is when the other party has failed to act but while we are at the table, they served a notice. You cannot put my hands behind me and say that I should run like the Olympic guy, that is unfair,” he noted.

• Read also: CLOGSAG declares nationwide strike on Nov. 7

According to the Association, the declaration is in line with the expiration of an October 31 deadline for the government to meet their demands.

But Fair Wages is fighting back insisting CLOGSAG has yet to respond to the government offer on the new salary structure presented to the association. However, Mr Arthur noted that they rather got a notice to embark on a strike.

The National Labour Commission (NLC) is expected to intervene in the matter on Wednesday, November  6.

But the CEO of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is frustrated over what he describes as CLOGSAG leadership’s recurring calls to the President to dismiss him.

According to him, this has been an age-old strategy they have adopted.

“When the single spine was being implemented, they did not want to deal with the joint negotiation, they didn’t want to deal with Fair Wages, they took the matter to court but unfortunately the ruling was not in their favour.

“The last one that I noticed was that they were asking the president to remove the Fair Wages board. What was the reason, nobody cited any reason. You cannot cite me for incompetence and dishonesty,” he said.