Accra: The leadership of the General Nurses Group (GNG), an affiliate of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), has announced plans to form taskforces across the country to ensure full compliance with the association’s roadmap for industrial action. The GRNMA released the roadmap on May 28, 2025, as a demonstration of its dissatisfaction with the ‘overly delayed’ implementation of their collective agreement.
According to Ghana News Agency, the collective agreement in question was signed in May 2024 between the GRNMA and its employer. However, the agreement has not been implemented, despite the GRNMA’s multiple visits to the Ministries of Finance and Health. The association has expressed concerns that the delay is not only a disservice to Ghanaian nurses and midwives but also poses a threat to the delivery of quality health services to the public.
The roadmap outlines a phased approach to the industrial action. From June 2 to June 3, members will wear red arm and headbands. This will be followed by the withdrawal of all Out-Patient Department (OPD) services between June 4 and June 8. From June 9 onwards, all services will be withdrawn.
Madam Kate Mensah-Botchwey, National Secretary of the GNG, disclosed to the Ghana News Agency that the taskforces will operate in all public health facilities across the nation. She emphasized that while members are ready and eager to comply with the roadmap, the taskforces will visit facilities to ensure full compliance and provide updates to the leadership of the GRNMA.
Madam Mensah-Botchwey noted the mounting pressure on the GRNMA leadership from its members to commence the industrial action immediately, citing issues such as the invalidity of Professional Identification Numbers (PINs), a key component of the collective agreement. ‘The agitations on our platforms are massive,’ she stated, adding that red bands will be visible nationwide starting Monday.
In response to the strike threat, the Ministry of Health extended an invitation to the GRNMA leadership for a meeting on May 28, 2025, aimed at discussing the implementation of the negotiated agreement. However, the GRNMA maintained in a post-meeting statement that the roadmap should be adhered to until the agreement receives approval from the Ministry of Finance.
The planned industrial action has garnered support from several affiliate groups within the GRNMA, including the Paediatric Nurses Society-Ghana, the Ear, Nose and Throat Nurses Society-Ghana, the Enrolled Nurses Group, and the Nurse Practitioners Society of Ghana, among others, who have released messages of solidarity.