<<Print>>

ABOUR agitations and unrests, globally, have stemmed from disparities in salary and poor working conditions.

Whereas the effect of such agitations has been severe in some countries resulting in change of governments, Ghana has not yet witnessed such a fate. The issue however remains a big challenge to government.

The introduction of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) was one important initiative by government to maintain industrial harmony.

The SSPP was introduced to address the challenges associated with salary administration in the public sector, and to enhance the capacity of the government to manage public sector pay more efficiently.

The implementation of the first phase started on January 1, 2010 and ended in 2014 with the migration of all public sector workers onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). The first phase of implementation resulted in gains including a centralised negotiation of public sector pay and a more accurate data on the size of the public sector.

Despite the remarkable gains chalked by the SSPP, there have been concerns about the high public sector wage bill with its implications for the sustainability of the policy.

Since the implementation of the pay policy also, Ghana has seen a number of labour agitations with some workers claiming the policy was causing distortions and variation in their salaries.

Mr Seth Terkper, the Minister of Finance says the implementation of the SSPP have had significant impact on government’s fiscal management.

He notes that in order to ensure fiscal discipline in the system, government had kept a fine balance between compensation and salaries and wages, as well as interest payments on loans and capital expenditure.

The minister worries interest payments on loans are now higher than capital expenditure adding that government, after paying for statutory expenditure, is left with less revenue to spend on capital expenditure.

Indeed, compensation including wages and salaries, social security and gratuity accounts for the greater portion of government’s recurrent expenditure. Excessive borrowing is also contributing to the rising interest payments. 

As a result of these challenges, a Presidential Forum on the implementation of the SSPP was held in Ho in August, 2013 to review the implementation of the SSPP and to build consensus on the implementation of the policy to ensure its sustainability.

Among the recommendations from the Ho Forum was the need to develop and implement complementary policies to enhance effective and sustainable implementation of the SSPP, introduce the banking system into the SSSS, and link pay to work done and productivity, meaning striking public workers would no longer be paid for the number of days they are on strike.

Last week, the Second Presidential Forum on the Implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy was held in Takoradi to review the implementation of the SSPP with special focus on the recommendations from the Ho Forum, and to agree on the strategies for the implementation of the second phase of the SSPP, which would focus on performance/productivity in the public sector.

Speaking at the Takoradi Forum, the Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Kofi Asamoah said despite the bold decision by government at implementing the SSSS, the inability of stakeholders to manage workers’ expectations of the SSPP has overshadowed the gains made by the government and its social partners on the labour front.

He also said the issues of market premium, category two and three allowances, and annual frozen increments are all issues that must be addressed to ensure the effective implementation of the SSPP.

The issues of market premium, categories two and three allowances, and annual salary increments have been with the policy since its inception.

Market Premium, according to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), is “an amount paid over and above the normal payment which is above the regular pay range for jobs of similar value to attract particular scarce skills.”

It also describes Category 2 Allowances as “benefits and allowances for Special Conditions and/or Circumstances that arise from time to time which require some compensation” while Category 3 Allowances are “benefits that are staff welfare or job related that the employer considered would enhance the well-being of the employee and his/her family.

The Secretary General added that organised labour had good expectations of the SSPP but could not foresee some of the challenges confronting the implementation of the pay policy.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Haruna Iddrisu said the issues of market premium and category two and three allowances are being worked on by government.

He however appealed to public sector workers to ensure industrial harmony as government works to ensure that public sector workers are adequately compensated.

Instead of all the hullaballoo and unending fora, according to experts, the first step government must take to sustain the SSPP and to make it work going forward is for it to register biometrically all public sector employees to eliminate or make slim the chances of having ‘ghost names’ in the public sector payroll.

With the number of ghost names that surfaced at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital – a single public sector entity - in 2013, it would not be farfetched to assume that close to a third of all public sector workers on the SSPP could be non-existent.

Mr Zakaria Tanko, a lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), says the SSPP is a good policy introduced by the government. He notes that it is only fair for workers, after having acquired some skills for themselves and worked, to be entitled to some form of remuneration.

He however laments the incessant use of large sums of tax revenues to pay public sector compensations.

“Government would have to ensure that the tax net is diversified so that it will bring in more money to pay for salaries and also cater for infrastructural development,” he suggests.

Even as government plans the full implementation of the SSSS this year, there is the need for it to address the ghost names issue as well as deepen consultations, negotiations and dialogue in all pay policy-related issues. This will ensure industrial harmony and also ensure the sustainability of the SSPP.