Employment and Labour Relations Minister Haruna Iddrisu is warning striking members of Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) to return to work or risk losing their August salaries.

The minister says his directive is based on the National Labour Commission ruling on the matter which declared the strike illegal.

Mr Iddrisu says he will be meeting with the head of the civil service to begin the process of a roll call to decide who to pay at the end of the month.

Members of CLOGSAG have been on strike over the last few weeks in protest over their market premiums [monies paid to workers whose skills are in short supply.]

The workers want the government to, as a matter of urgency, pay them the market premiums before they return to work.

But the National Labour Commission has described the strike as illegal. Haruna Iddrisu said all CLOGSAG workers must therefore return to work.

"All CLOGSAG workers are to return to work or forfeit their salaries for the month of August as the strike declared by the NLC is illegal and we have encouraged the leadership of the CLOGSAG workers union to engage the subcommittee which is working on the market premium.

"Subject to the final report of the sub-committee, all arrears will be reviewed but this will be done from January 2017," he stated.

He said the government is unable to accommodate any further stress on its finances especially as the country goes into an election years.

The National Labour Commission says it has started investigating the matter with a view to resolving it.

"The Commission is not only interested in dealing with the strike action but also to deal with the substantive matter which drove the workers to embark on the strike," the NLC Executive Secretary Bawa Duah told Joy News.

The Commission is expected to meet both the Ministry and the leadership of CLOGSAG on Wednesday.