Stop Undermining Fair Wages CEO � Labour Expert Tells Prez Mahama

The Head of the Labour Rights Institute, Mr Muhammed Afum has told XYZ News that President John Mahama�s �interference� in the Teachers� strike "undermined" the authority of the Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Mr George Smith Graham. �If I were Smith Graham, I would have resigned because I believe that what has happened is a serious [act of] undermining my authority�, Mr Muhammed Afum advised. The FWSC is the mandated body that negotiates, on behalf of the government, with Labour union concerning salaries and conditions of service. Mr Afum therefore believes that the meeting with the agitated Teachers by the President amounted to a usurpation of the mandate of the FWSC. He said: �After inviting them and giving them assurances, you have sent them back to the Fair Wages Commission to go and negotiate�. President Mahama�s intervention with the Teachers� strike brought an end to the industrial action. He met the leaders of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) at the Flagstaff House to get them to suspend the strike. The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) simultaneously issued statements on Wednesday March, 27, 2013 and threatened strikes from next week if the government failed to address their concerns pending before the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).