Health Service workers not happy with premium rates reduction

The Health Service Workers’ Union of Ghana (HSWU) on Wednesday expressed concern about the arbitrary reduction of market premium rates of some of their members who are with the clinical department.

The Union also expressed disappointment in the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, as well as the three Teaching Hospitals in the country for their inability to address concerns of the Union regarding their “unfair” placement on the Single Spine Salary Structure and low market premium rates for the union members.

A statement issued at the end of its Regional Delegates’ Conference signed by Mr Reynolds Tenkoreng, Deputy General Secretary and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, indicated that its members were losing confidence in the FWSC due to the delay in addressing their grievances.

The HSWU on annual basis holds Regional Delegates’ Conferences to deliberate on their welfare and seek the way forward for the betterment of their members, and this year’s regional conference precedes the 10th Quadrennial National Delegates’ Conference scheduled for June.

The statement said the union should not be held responsible for any industrial action that could occur as a result of the “Unfair” treatment on the part of the FWSC and its employers.

“According to the White Paper on the Single Spine Pay Policy, conversion difference should be paid to an employee whose salary, prior to the implementation, is higher than the entry point on the SSSS to ensure that the employee is not made worse off”", it explained.

The statement emphasised that “But what is in the White Paper is not what is being implemented and the union therefore calls on the FWSC to implement the conversion difference in accordance with the White Paper.”

According to the statement, union members at all the regional delegates’ conferences observed that monthly salaries were not stable and because of delays in issuing pay slips most people still don’t know their salary levels. It therefore appealed to the Controller and Accountant General's Department to issue slips promptly to enable workers to know their salary arrears.

The statement called on the FWSC to take steps to place every worker according to job prescription instead of placing all HSWU under Step One apparently to facilitate the migration process, which according to the statement was unacceptable to the union and needs to be corrected.**