The Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana (MOWAG) has temporarily called off its indefinite strike, which began today, giving the government a two-week ultimatum to meet their demands.

The association had embarked on the strike to push for better working conditions, including the provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and the resolution of long-standing salary arrears.

The strike, according to MOWAG’s General Secretary, Richard Kofi Jordan, will resume if the government does not meet their demands by October 10.

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He emphasised that the workers are determined to continue fighting for their rights until the government acts decisively.

Among their demands is financial clearance for the recruitment of 500 new mortuary workers to alleviate the heavy workload on existing staff.

MOWAG has stressed the importance of providing proper PPE for mortuary workers, arguing that it is crucial for their safety in dealing with diseases and hazardous materials.

They contend that without such equipment, their members face significant risks in their daily duties.

In addition to protective gear, the association is demanding the settlement of salary arrears, which were agreed upon in negotiations as far back as 2020. This issue has remained unresolved, leaving many workers frustrated.

Richard Kofi Jordan also took the opportunity to criticize the government for not honouring its commitments to provide incentives for frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He expressed the union's view that these demands are reasonable and pose no threat to the economy.

“I am, therefore, directing my members, as I speak to you, that we should begin work immediately and serve the good people of this country. But it doesn’t mean that we have suspended it or called it off. We are really keeping it in abundance."

“We do not need to inform anybody before we trigger it. Starting on the 10th of October, from today, if we still have even one person who has not received what he has to receive, we trigger the strike. And this time round, it will not be nice.”

“Our demands are straightforward, they don’t affect the economy in any way. Our numbers are so small that it has no empirical bearing on the economy or even the budget. We are talking about PPEs, which is first, non-negotiable."

“It ought to be there already. PPEs or personal protective equipment, it is non-negotiable. It has to be provided with immediate effect, adequately. Number two has to do with some salary arrears, which was negotiated somewhere in 2020, which is still being manipulated by some few people, refusing to pay to us.”

“Another one has to do with some 500 mortuary workers that we are demanding their financial clearance to be given to people to be employed to support our staff.

"The last one has to do with the one that His Presidency Nana Akufo-Addo, announced that he was trying to motivate frontline health workers to continue to provide services during the time of COVID, which was denied multi-workers.”