The lesson is simple. Public servants are salaried workers. They have a right to a contract to deliver service and be paid for it.
Their condition of work, salaries and allowances should be clearly stipulated and fully respected by those who manage their affairs. Those on training and are not entitled to certain allowances, should not be engaged beyond what their training requires.
A union serves to promote collective bargaining. Hence sit down strikes would be unnecessary if unions are given due regard by decision makers and their members, on whose behalf they should act with sensitivity and timely interventions.
The right step has been taken to handle the sit down actions. Other sit down strikes could be avoided by encouraging aggrieved persons to petition authorities and encourage unions to be interlocutors between authorities and those whose affairs are put in their charge.
This is the way forward in a new Gambia if tension is to be avoided or defused.
