Single-Spine salary expected in 2009

Ho, April 10, GNA-The much awaited single-spine salary structure seeking to ensure fairness in public sector pay is expected to come on stream in 2009. Though the processes of fine-tuning especially job evaluation and awarding of scores to jobs has been slow "quite some work has been done". Dr Anthony Baah, Head, Policy and Research of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) told an emergency meeting of the Ho District Council of Labour (DCL) in Ho on Wednesday.

Dr Baah said Labour has made significant inputs into the proposed new pay structure and hoped these would reflect in the final work. He said the campaign for improvement and fairness in determining public sector pay was in accord with Article 190 of the 1992 Constitution and made more so by the fact that the economy had doubled from six billion cedis to 14 billion cedis. Dr Baah said government has shown the capability of the economy to reward its public servants when it raised health sector minimum wage to five dollars a day compared with 2.24 dollars a day for other public sector workers. He said health sector workers admit that theirs is not the most important sector of the economy and that other sectors are equally important.

Dr Baah said the struggle continues and hoped public sector workers would not have to resort to strikes, protests and campaigns as means of getting what was due them. The Council impressed on the leadership of the GTUC to put pressure on government to implement the various policy initiatives aimed at improving service conditions and delivery in the public sector before the end of the year. It said it would be dangerous to bid time until after the 2008 elections for those policy initiatives to mature because of the uncertainties of general elections.

Other issues raised included the seemingly delay in the implementation of the proposed new pension scheme and the fate of the GTUC initiated Labour Enterprise Trust (LET). A new Executive Committee of the DCL was elected with Mr Bright Adjei Acheampong of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Ho as Chairman.