Doctors don’t qualify for Conversion Difference – FWSC
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) on Monday says it still stands by its position that members of the Ghana Medical Association are not entitled to any Conversion Difference.
It said in a statement to the Ghana News Agency that “a Conversion Difference, is part of the Single Spine Pay Policy and is paid to a job holder when upon migration it is found that his/her previous basic salary is more than what he/she is to take on the Single Spine basic salary.
“The jobholder is given Conversion Difference in order that he/she is not made worse off upon migration.”
Recalling a meeting of the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC) that called for a media truce on the current labour agitations, the FWSC said some parties had flouted the call.
The public would bear us out that since that decision was taken the FWSC has tried to observe the truce. The same cannot be said of some of the labour unions and associations, who have decided not to respect that truce but also have taken advantage of the truce to wage a media campaign to prosecute their side of the story.”
It said: “Following a press statement by the GMA (on the Conversion Difference), the FWSC felt obliged to set the records straight by responding to the issues therein that we deem as misinformation in order to set the records straight.”
It explained further that Conversion Difference, “technically, means that such a jobholder was being over paid under the previous salary regime.
“However, in order that the jobholder is not made worse off, the difference between his previous basic salary and the Single Spine basic salary is paid to him/her. This implies that the jobholder will have to “mark time” for others on the same grade to catch up with him/her.”
“Marking time” means that the amount credited to him as Conversion Difference would gradually reduce until it is cleared off.”
The FWSC said in the process of migrating jobholders and institutions from their previous salary structures to the SSSS, the FWSC was confronted with challenges, especially in the Health and Education (Tertiary) sectors.
“In the case of the GMA for example, the doctors’ previous basic salary was a consolidated salary comprising their basic salary under the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS), and the Additional Duty Hours Allowance (ADHA), which became the Health Sector Salary Structure 1 (HSS1). Thus, the doctors’ previous basic salary prior to migration onto the SSSS could not be considered as an over-payment, because it had in it an element of premium to cater for their extra hours.”
“For this reason, giving them Conversion Difference, which by definition, is supposed to erode with time would mean eroding their extra hours. This means they would be made worse off.
“To overcome this challenge, the parties agreed to introduce the Interim Market Premium instead of paying Conversion Difference to the doctors. This became necessary because if it was called by any other name, connoting an allowance, it could create a problem where others would demand same, knowing that negotiations of new allowances had been frozen.
“The Interim Market Premium was computed using the extra hours medical officers do as a proxy.
“Following disagreement over the applicable rates and the Ruling by the National Labour Commission, the doctors were awarded market premium of 100% and 120% of their basic salaries depending on whether the doctor is a junior or senior medical officer by the agreed classification.
“At the time of migration, not even one medical officer was entitled to Conversion Difference,” the FWSC stated.
Explaining why initially some doctors received Conversion Difference, the FWSC said the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) system had been programmed to pay only Conversion Difference and also because by law Social Security could only be paid on basic salaries, the system could not pay the Social Security on the old basic salary. This was because the old basic salary was considered by the system as not earned.
“Owing to the challenge, the CAGD did not revert to the Ministry of Finance and the FWSC; and the system paid the doctor the Interim Market Premium plus a Conversion Difference on top once it recognised a reduced basic salary.”
The Commission said it was committed to the tenets of the MOU signed on 11th April, 2013 with the Ghana Medical Association, which process the parties committed themselves to.
“The FWSC wishes to assure all Ghanaians that it is committed to ensuring fair, transparent and systematic implementation of the SSPP (Single Spine pay Policy), which we are enjoined by law to do”. The statement said.
Source: GNA