Give us our tier-2 money or brace up for strike; Labour Unions tell gov’t

Twelve labour unions have issued an ultimatum to government to transfer their tier-2 pension contributions into their custodian accounts or brace up for an indefinite strike.

The groups have given the government up to September 29, 2017, to make the transfer or they will embark on a protracted strike in decades.

Ghana Medical Association (GMA) President, Dr Justice Yankson said the money is the only package their members are entitled to when they are going on retirement.

He told Myjoyonline.com in an interview Thursday, they are unhappy with the way the fund is being managed.

Related Article: 12 labour groups beat war drums over transfer of Tier-2 pension funds

“If the transfer hasn’t been effected, either in part or full [by the deadline] then the workers will have no option than to express their displeasure at the employer [government],” he said.

Efforts to get government to transfer the tier-2 pension contributions, sitting in an account at Bank of Ghana, have been unsuccessful.

It has been dogged by feet dragging on the part of government, the labour unions have said.

The two parties - government and labour groups - were later to reach an agreement as part of an out-of-court settlement.

Under the agreement, the government was asked to make payment through the Controller and Accountant General's Department to the groups before April 1, 2016.

But the 12 unions say the agreement was breached and no explanation was offered for that.

“The key thing is that as the law said within the Pensions Act and the consensus judgment reached these monies should be paid into the custodian accounts but it hasn’t been done,” a displeased Dr Yankson said.

He said the first batch of tier-2 beneficiaries will be due for their package in 2019 but they are yet to know how much each beneficiary would be going home with.

“Nobody will give you a handshake [when you are going on retirement]…[ so] it should be returned to us,” he said.

The labour groups include the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA), the Government Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOPSA), and the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetists (GRCRA).

The rest are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSSAG) and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG).

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