Public Services Workers congratulate FWSC for implementing Single Spine Salary
The Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has congratulated the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) for work done so far on the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
Mr. Richard Amparbeng, Deputy General Secretary of the Union, congratulated the Commission on behalf of the Union at the Upper West Regional Delegates Conference of the Union held at Wa on Monday.
He stated that as at the end of June 2011, 42 organisations had already been migrated unto the SSSS out of which 17 were affiliates of the PSWU.
He reiterated that out of about 463,741 Public Sector employees, who qualified to be placed on the structure, 315,344 representing 68 per cent had been migrated.
This, according to him, was no mean achievement given the numerous# constraints the Commission faces.
Mr. Amparbeng noted that the Union was working towards ensuring that by the end of August all organisations under the Union would have been migrated unto the SSSS and all anomalies rectified by September this year.
The Deputy General Secretary said the Union also expected total payment of arrears that had accrued in September.
He noted that most of the agitations against the implementation of the new pay policy should be traced to the low Base Pay and Relativity Ratio.
Mr. Amparbeng, therefore, urged the Public Sector Standing Joint Negotiating Committee to expedite the negotiation process and come out with an acceptable Base Pay and Relativity Ratio to put an end to the agitations.
Mr. William Adii, the Industrial Relations Officer (IRO) in a report said the Union in the region had a numerical strength of 1,278 coming from 98 locals, 12 chartered branches and a yet to be chartered branch at Lambussie-Karni District.
He said the Union had over the years organised training workshops to improve on the capacity of its members.
Mr. Adii appealed for the renovation and fencing of the Union’s duty post flat as well as office furniture for the IRO.
Source: GNA
It is refreshing to hear the PSWU commending the FWSC for what they have done so far in migrating workers on to SSSS. 68 % of work done. I add my voice to theirs in commending the FWSC.
The task assigned the commission is not an easy. The difficulty in getting information from institutions to do the work. The pressure from workers to get migration done quickly. In the face of these pressures they have been able to achieve so much.
The Dep. Secretary General, PSWU pointed out that the crux of the matter lies in the determination of the base pay and relativity ratio. Let’s wait and see the bearing of these factors on the qauntum of salaries workers will net eventually.
For it goes beyond that. The substance of the matter is relationship betwwen salary and qaulity of life of the worker. What qaulity of life can the worker afford with his salary ? With the single spine salary are getting a living wage ?
Clearly these issues are beyond the mandate of the FWSC. Their main mandate is to rationalise salaries of workers of the same grade with same work schedules in different institutions.
Of course there are other factors that determine the qaulity of life of the worker. The weight of your currency in terms of value. Productivity is another factor. The very nature of a country’s economy.
In advance economies, work ethics is critical. They work so hard generate consumable welfare for citizens to enjoy. Foreign firms come here and find it difficult to tolorate work ethics here. Ghanaians go abroad to find that work ethics are diffirent. They work hard from research, engineering to manufacturing to generate consumables that make us more comfortable.
In summation, salary reviews and revisions alone can give us the living wage are always craving for. Those who have been placed on SSSS and received their salaries will tell you that they are still not making ends meet. The way forward is work even harder to change the nature of our economy, from producers of raw commodity to producers finshed finished products, for the comfort of suffering masses as well.