TUC is to negotiate for the spread of allowances to all workers

Wa, Nov. 23, GNA - The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has held itself ready to negotiate with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) for the spread of allowances approved by the Commission under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) to its workers whose organisations are not benefiting from such allowances.

The TUC is also working towards the standardization of all allowances under the SSSS to ensure fairness and transparency to bring sanity into the labour front and enhance productivity, Dr. Yaw Baah, the Deputy Secretary General of TUC, has said.

Dr Baah was interacting with a cross section of workers to explain issues on the SSSS, oil and gas as well as the new pension scheme at the third quarter Wa District Council of Labour meeting in Wa on Monday. He said "Category Two Allowances" such as acting, inducement, height, overtime and tools allowances would continue to be paid. Other allowances that are related to staff welfare or job that enhance the wellbeing of the employee and his or her family such as medical, funeral grant, night subsistence and transfer which are known as "Category Three Allowances" would also be honoured.

Dr. Baah said allowances relating to housing, utilities (electricity, water, and telephone), domestics and vehicles that are held under "Category Four Allowances" would eventually be monetised.

He said however that allowances under "Category One Allowances" that are relating to normal duties and responsibilities of job which include risk, duty, professional and responsibility that are already included in the evaluation would be discontinued.

Dr. Baah assured workers that the TUC would work with the government to get the right salaries for workers, saying: "The SSSS would continue but how soon all workers would be migrated into the SSSS is a challenge". He said the TUC expected that by end of 2010, all government workers would have been migrated into the SSSS but the situation is not so due to challenges emanating from the lackadaisical attitude of some managements. Dr Baah some organisations were running away from the FWSC because they had instituted allowances in their outfits that were not approved by the government.

Other organisations had also employed workers and were illegally paying them through the Internally Generated Fund, thereby creating ghost names on their payrolls.

On oil and gas, Dr. Baah said the TUC was unhappy about some of the agreements signed between the government and the oil companies. He mentioned among others the Production Sharing Agreement, Service Contract, Concession Agreement or Royalty System and Stability Clause as some of the agreements that were worrying and needed to be looked into to ensure that the oil benefit the people. The workers urged government to make public all agreements signed between the state and oil companies for civil society organisations and other stakeholders to make inputs to enhance transparency and trust.