BY: Bright Kofi Agamah
The Trades Union Congress (TUC), says the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), currently being reviewed, should as a matter of urgency deal with the unfairness in remuneration between Article 71 Office Holders and other Public Sector Workers.
The TUC warned that the class system created by the huge pay disparity between the Article 71 Office Holders and other Public Sector Workers cannot be business as usual.
The Secretary-General of the TUC, Dr. Yaw Baah, said this at a news conference in Accra, on July 18, 2022, which looked at the COST-OF-LIVING ALLOWANCE (COLA) AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC SITUATION.
The event, which was attended by members of the hierarchy of the TUC and its affiliate Unions, saw the TUC Chief Scribe, touched on, the unfairness in remunerations for public sector workers, Ghana going back to IMF for bail out, the poor pension paid to retirees, especially those who went on retirement from January, 2020 and the increasing unemployment rate in the country.
Dr. Baah stated, “The TUC and its affiliates have our eyes and minds firmly fixed on the outcome of the Single Spine Review Process currently underway. We are determined to work together with other organized labour groups to end the unfairness in remunerations for public sector workers on the Single Spine Salary Structure on one hand and Article 71 office holders and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on the other hand. We will not allow the class system in pay administration in favour of Article 71 office holders to continue. It must end now.”
On Ghana opting for IMF bailout, Dr. Baah said, that will not solve the fundamental structural issues of the economy. According to him, IMF-sponsored programmes and policies are completely divorced from reality, and the TUC has already communicated its objection to the decision to seek an IMF bailout for the eighteenth time.
He said the TUC was convinced that an IMF programme will not solve “our problems. It will only impose hardships on Ghanaians. We insist that our main challenge in the management of the economy has to do with corruption and the failure on the part of successive governments to transform the structure of the Ghanaian economy to allow Ghanaians to produce what we eat and eat what we produce. Currently, the profit-making sectors such as mining, petroleum and banking are mainly in the hands of foreign companies. IMF programmes will not deal with these fundamental structural issues.”
Dr. Baah continued, “IMF programmes only prepare the country for the next IMF bailout so that IMF will continue to be in business. We know that the eighteenth IMF programme being negotiated now will not be different from the previous ones. What will surely be different this time, is that, the TUC will lead the working people of Ghana to resist any attempts to impose hardships on workers and their families and the Ghanaian population, as a whole.”
With regard to the pay the lump sum top-up to those who retired from January 2020, the TUC Secretary-General said, it is regrettable that Government has not honoured its promise to pay the lump sum top-up. He pointed out that the majority of workers who retired from January 2020 (under the new pensions act, Act 766) received pension lump-sum benefits that were inferior, compared to what they would have received if they had retired under the old pension law (PNDCL 247).
He indicated, that in September 2020, the TUC made a special appeal to the President to authorize the payment of lump-sum top-up for all retirees who were affected, and on 1st May 2021, the President promised that government would pay the lumpsum top-up. “ We are in July 2022, the lumpsum top-up has not been paid. We are demanding that government should honour that promise without further delay. We are also demanding a total overhaul of the pension system.
He described the current system as unfair to many workers, saying, a few privileged individuals are being paid huge sums of money from the SSNIT scheme for example, an individual gets 140, 000 Ghana cedis every month, at the expense of ordinary workers who are contributing to the scheme from their meagre salaries. Even workers who do not contribute toward pension receive better pensions, compared to those who pay monthly contributions towards their pensions. What is social security about a scheme which pays ¢300? This has to change.”
Turning to the unemployment situation, Dr. Baah said it is sad that after people spent so much in pursuing higher education, they had to deal with unemployment challenges. “Young people, educated at great costs to their parents and the nation, are struggling to get jobs that are commensurate with their levels of education and skills.”
Commenting on the recent 15 percent Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), between Government and Organised Labour, the TUC Secretary-General, intimated that the agreement prevented what he termed catastrophy on the labour front. Monday, 18th July 2022, the TUC was going to declare a nationwide strike. The agreement on COLA on 14th July 2022 has indeed averted a catastrophe on the labour scene.
He commended the government and its relevant agencies that enabled the parties to agree to the 15 percent Cost of Living Allowance, COLA. “We would, therefore, like to thank God for the peace we are all enjoying today. As we relish in the glory of not only for securing a lifeline for struggling workers but also avoiding a potential disaster on the labour scene, I hasten to remind workers and Ghanaians that the struggle is not over because the cost-of-living crisis is not over. Inflation is now 29.8% and there are no signs that it will decline soon. Workers and all Ghanaians continue to face difficulties on several fronts, which demand our collective attention and action.”
Dr. Baah was grateful to all the unions and their members for the extraordinary show of unity and stamina that brought what he termed unprecedented victory. He added that the successful struggle amply demonstrated “what we can achieve a lot if we close our ranks and stay focused on the issues that matter to workers and the good people of Ghana.”