Association’s stop work threat unjustified, illegal, says Sansan

DEPARTMENT of Personnel Management secretary Taies Sansan says the stop work threat made by the Medical Laboratory Technical Personnel Association (MLTPA) is unjustified.
She said the threat which was supported by Public Employees Association general-secretary Peter Toggs was illegal.
“No frontline health worker group such as the MLTPA would be in the right frame of mind to issue threats to the Government to pursue wage increases when the whole world is standing together to fight this Covid-19 pandemic,” Sansan said.
She said concerns for improvement in some areas of the terms and conditions related to the hardship imposed by health risks for frontline workers such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical and life cover were genuine but the subject of negotiations by all parties.
Sansan said, however, that the current pandemic could not be used by PNG’s frontline service providers to issue stop work threats through the media.
“It is completely illegal and not proper to issue stop work threats with a five-day ultimatum when the process of assessing the log of claims has just commenced.”
Sansan said the claims submitted by the MLTPA during the state of emergency period had been responded to by DPM and the association’s feedback was only received on Aug 7. The department is currently working on it and will facilitate further discussions with all stake holders.
Sansan said it was disappointing that the association, with the backing of PEA, had gone ahead and issued a stop work threat with a five-day ultimatum when the consultation process was still on foot.