LET'S FOSTER INDUSTRIAL PEACE (FEB 8, 2010)

Industrial harmony is a necessary ingredient for increased productivity, wealth creation and more opportunities for all, especially the youth.
It is the expectation of all employers that their workers will not disturb the labour front by laying down their tools in protest against their demand for better conditions of service.
If anything at all, the management of most organisations expect their employees to exhaust the grievance procedure during negotiations to avoid job stoppages through lockouts and strikes.
The labour scene appears to be boiling now, largely because of the rising cost of living, the policy of out-sourcing and moves by some organisations to downsize in order to be more competitive.
Organised labour has always argued that the present level of remuneration can best be described as a 'slave wage' and that the so-called take-home pay can hardly take workers to the gates of their organisations.
These demands, especially in the public sector, led to the introduction of the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) to take care of the distortions and relativities in salaries across the board.
The implementation of the GUSS was bedevilled by many challenges, including the refusal of sections of public sector workers to be part of it.
In an attempt to resolve this dilemma, the government introduced public sector reforms as a means of improving efficiency in the public sector through the enhancement of the remuneration package for workers.
Then came the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) on the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) meant, again, to address some of the challenges that the GUSS failed to eliminate.
The DAILY GRAPHIC is aware that widespread consultations were carried out to educate the social partners on the merits and demerits of the new salary regime. This exercise has been going on for a couple of years now, spearheaded by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), to provide better remuneration packages for workers in the public sector to spur them on to greater productivity.
Some workers have not been too happy about the implementation date of the SSSS policy but it is heart-warming that sections of labour have kept faith with the FWSC by remaining at the negotiation table to iron out the differences.
However, the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) boycotted a meeting called by the FWSC last week Friday because some of its concerns had not been addressed.
The DAILY GRAPHIC urges CLOGSAG to return to the negotiation table, no matter its concerns, so that it can table these concerns during deliberations for amicable resolutions to pave the way for the implementation of the SSSS.
We think that taking entrenched positions on some of the issues concerning the implementation of the SSSS at this time may not be helpful because it will only stall the discussions and delay efforts at ensuring equity, fairness and the removal of pay distortions in the salaries of public sector workers.
The DAILY GRAPHIC appeals to all the social partners to discuss the challenges that they envisage in the implementation of the SSSS with clear minds and suggest better ways forward so that the implementation of the SSSS will mark the end of agitation for fairness in public sector pay administration in the country.
We need industrial harmony to create the enabling environment for increased productivity to ensure better living standards for the people.