some medical practitioners stage a strike action
The Tripartite Committee meets today to finalise discussions on the new daily minimum wage and put to rest the agitations that have arisen lately among some civil servants for appropriate wages.
Comprising government representatives, employers and organized labour, the committee has been meeting in recent times in an attempt to adjust the new daily minimum wage.
While organized labour is proposing a 15.2 percent increase, which will translate into GH¢5.16,
Government wants to settle for a 15 percent increase to enable it manage the increasing wage bill, as well as the huge arrears it owes.
However, employers are considering an increment that will not exceed the 9 percent inflation figure projected for 2013.
A cross-section of civil servants has recently been agitating for an increase in their emoluments per the new salary structure arrangement commonly referred to as the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
“What the workers are agitating for is pay equity. Pay equity is about equal pay for equal work done and therefore work done by such professionals with the same qualifications and work experience must attract the same amount of emoluments by the same employer,” a labour expert has indicated.
Since the year began, five labour groups have embarked on strike.
They include the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), which suspended medical services to National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cardholders.
This was followed by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Concerned Teachers Association (CCT), the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union and University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).
In the case of members of UTAG, they suspended their strike action because of their students and not Government.
The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) also joined the fray not quite long ago.
A seasoned economist, Dr Joe Abbey advised Government to address the concerns of workers since what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
But he stated that the pay increment should not be done in a way that will throw the economy out of gear as the wage bill, like an albatross, hang around government’s neck in its expenditure books.
By Samuel Boadi