Organized Labour has expressed their dissatisfaction with how Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s) of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) of using public funds to pay themselves fat salaries and allowances because they know they will not be held accountable.
In the speech read on behalf of workers in Ghana at the 2022 May Day Parade at the Black Star Square in Accra, the Chairman of Organised labour and Secretary-General of TUC Ghana, Brother (Dr.) Yaw Anthony Baah appealed to President Akufo-Addo and the government of Ghana to overhaul the reward system in the public sector to address the gross disparities in the salaries and emoluments within the public sector.
“On this special day, Mr. President, we want to appeal to you that the entire reward system in the entire public service including emolument of Article 71 Office Holders and the top managers of SOEs is totally overhauled” Dr Yaw Baah requested on behalf of organised labour.
He also indicated that at the 2022 Annual Labour Conference which was held in Nkwatia Kwahu, with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in attendance, social partners agreed that Single Spine Pay Policy should be reviewed and a Tripartite Technical Committee has been constituted to review the policy and expected to present its report by the end of June 2022 so that pay increases will be factored into the 2023 National Budget.
According to Organised Labour, they expect the committee’s work to address the challenges of; low levels of pay for workers. Dr. Baah iterated that some government workers on the Single Spine Salary Policy take salaries as low as Four Hundred and Fifteen Cedis (GHS 415) per month which is woefully inadequate for any meaningful life in this difficult times.
The workers union leader insinuated that, the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) has failed to achieve its objective of ensuring fairness in the rewards system in the Public Service after twelve years of implementation but rather worsening the pay differentials.
“We now have junior staff in some public institutions especially those that are not on the Single Spine earning much higher than senior officers on the SSSS. Workers on the Single Spine Structure are receiving lower salaries compared to their counterparts on other salary structures in the public sector”
He also revealed that the highest salary on the Single Spine Salary Structure is Seven Thousand Cedis (GHS 7000) a month but some heads of public sector institutions earn over four times of that.
The leader of Organised Labour again alluded that when public sector workers were given between 4% and 7% salary increase in 2021 and 2022, some SOEs actually awarded themselves over 25% salary increase even though their salaries were much higher than those on the Single Spine. He alleges they did so without clearance from the Fare Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC) as required by Act 737.
Bro. Yaw Baah again stated that there are some heads of SOEs that earn three times more than the salary of President of Ghana even though those SOEs are making huge losses. “Why should the Chief Executive Officer managing a loss making State Own Enterprise be receiving a salary that is three times more than the salary of the President who is managing the entire country?” he questioned
By: Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana