A cardinal principle of the Government\u2019s new pay policy – \u201cnot to make workers worse off\u201d – was violated when some workers of Ghana News Agency were paid less than their previous salaries under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) in January 2010.
\nAlso the names of some of the workers, including a member of the Management Team, were omitted. The aggrieved workers were very angry and threatened to stop work until the anomaly was rectified.
\nThose affected included Mr Mukaila Seidu, Principal Plumber and Acting Estate Officer, who was paid GH\u00a2313. 50 in January 2011 compared to the GH\u00a2344.83 he received in December 2010.
\nAnother worker, Solomon Tetteh said: \u201cI can\u2019t believe it. My old pay is better than the single spine pay. I have been cheated by over GH\u00a250 by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, adding;\u201d My old poor pay is better Mr President,\u201d referring to President John Evans Atta Mills.
\nMr Kissi Yeboah; an Editor at the Home Desk said: \u201cI don\u2019t think this is the single spine the Government promised. I can\u2019t have that meagre increase in my salary and call it a new pay structure. This for me is not the single spine I expected\u201d.
\nHe claimed that, an Editor, who is four steps behind him in the Agency on the same rank, received a higher salary than him under the SSSS. \u201cHow can these happen?\u201d He asked.
\nNana Asamoah-Asare, a Chief Reporter, who expressed utter disbelief asked; \u201cHow can a senior secondary school graduate earn more than a degree holder under the SSSS?\u201d
\nAccording to him, the explanation that these levels would change in the course of time was untenable since \u201cother Ghanaians in other public sector institutions are better off under the structure though they are not as sensitive and strategic in maintaining national stability and cohesion as the GNA.\u201d
\nMr Rex Annan, Administrative Manager, said: \u201cInstead of making people better off, the spine has rather made people in GNA worse off,\u201d adding, \u201cthis is strange. My name is not even on the single spine pay roll. I don\u2019t know why. You are working on only 200 people and then you make such mistakes. How can that be?\u201d
\nA cursory glance at a copy of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission\u2019s Mapping Form for GNA from the existing salary structure to the SSSS showed that more than 20 workers were paid salaries far lower than what they received in December 2010.
\nWhile some staff have their January salaries reduced by about GH\u00a250, others saw more than GH\u00a2100 reduction.
\nThe situation has thrown the workers into a state of worry and shock, especially because of the high expectations they had about the new pay coming to improve their conditions, which has been generally bad because of their low remuneration compared to sister media institutions in the country.
\nWhen the GNA contacted Mr George Graham-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, he expressed shock at the situation and indicated that it could be an anomaly because the principle of not making someone worse-off underpinned the pay policy and that could not be compromised.
\nHe explained that the GNA was the second organisation that had reported to the Commission about such a problem and that it might have arisen because a proper test-run was not done to okay the mapping that migrated GNA onto the SSSS.
\n\u201cNobody should be made worse off. It should not happened in the first place on the new pay,\u201d Mr Graham-Smith emphasised, and explained that on the mapping form if a worker\u2019s existing salary was seen to be higher than what the single spine has quoted, the difference in the person\u2019s pay should not be deducted but rather he should be made to enjoy the old salary.
\nMr Graham-Smith, therefore, called on all public sector institutions that were yet to be migrated on to the SSSS to always ensure that they together with the Controller and Accountant General\u2019s Department performed a thorough test-run before issuing pay slips out or effecting payment of salaries.
\nOn the issue of why some people were not migrated on to the SSSS, he explain ned, that that anomaly could also have been resolved if a proper test-run were conducted.
\n\u201cWhen the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission completes the mapping with an institution, it is the responsibility of that organisation\u2019s human resource personnel or financial team to crosscheck with the Controller to fine-tune the details before the pay slips are issued,\u201d Mr Graham-Smith said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A cardinal principle of the Government\u2019s new pay policy – \u201cnot to make workers worse off\u201d – was violated when some workers of Ghana News Agency were paid less than their previous salaries under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) in January 2010. Also the names of some of the workers, including a member of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n