IMPLEMENT NEW PAY STRUCTURE ON TIME (NOV 3)

FOR some time now the government has given every indication that the process towards the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) is on course.
The Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, has been giving assurances to the various workers groups that the government is doing everything within its power to see to the implementation of the new salary structure to the satisfaction of all.
The new salary structure was introduced by the previous government last year but because of the 2008 general election, it could not hold a stakeholders’ consultative conference to discuss the proposals and smoothen out all the rough edges before implementation.
When the Mills administration came into office in 2009, a three-day consultative workshop on the SSSS was held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from May 27 to 29.
At that workshop, it was agreed that between September and November there should be negotiations with organised labour on negotiable aspects of the Single Spine Pay Structure, all job holders should be placed on the new pay structure by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and that the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department test runs the new pay structure.
It will be recalled that in June this year teachers in the Ashanti and Upper East regions called on the government to act with dispatch in the implementation of the SSSS.
And now organised labour is not happy with the implementation process.
It says that the road map for the implementation of the SSSS, as was agreed on by the stakeholders’ consultative workshop in May, is four months behind schedule.
The Employment and Social Welfare Minister concedes that there have been delays but he attributes them to the importance the government attaches to the implementation.
According to the minister, a technical sub-committee of Cabinet, headed by the Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, had been set up to ensure that the implementation of the SSSS was consistent with the government’s fiscal and economic policies.
The committee, it is understood, is also considering a memorandum from the Employment and Social Welfare Ministry advising the government on the SSSS before the issuance of a White Paper on the implementation.
Yes, we know that the FWSC has been working behind the scenes meeting various labour groups to resolve their grievances. There have also been a series of meetings between the FWSC and human resource managers of public sector organisations to ensure that all rankings, levels of salaries and allowances are rightly captured in the new salary structure.
But we believe that more should be done to accelerate the process of implementing the new salary structure.
We should not wait for workers to start agitating against the government for delaying the implementation of the SSSS.
Already, organised labour has stated unequivocally that the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy in January 2010 is not negotiable and that it will do everything within its power to bring the new pay structure on board.
The government must do everything humanly possible to ensure that the road map agreed upon at GIMPA is implemented on time.
A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.