Wages: Talks To Resume

Organised labour, representatives of the government and the Fair Wages Commission will this week resume salary negotiations which were stalled last Friday.

After the abortive negotiations, the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) issued an ultimatum to the government to do something about salaries for public sector workers by Friday, June 26 or risk industrial action.

Reacting to the threat of industrial action, the Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, said there is “no cause for alarm.” He said the stalling of negotiations might have been due to a problem of miscommunication.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Mr Kwao, who just returned from participating in an international Labour Organisation (ILO) conference in Geneva, said government has shown commitment to the process of salary negotiations since it began on June 1, 2009 by constituting its team on the negotiation table and engaging in all discussions with relevant parterns.

While labour tabled a 25 percentage salary increase, the government has to work with other sector ministries to ensure that the economy is not unduly stretched with any demands and come up with an acceptable figure.

Mr Kwao said the government will put on the table all the information needed for all to reach a consensus and ensure a stable economy.

However, the General Secretary of the TUC, Mr Kofi Asamoah, said government has not shown any seriousness in the processes leading to the real negotiations.

He said after the stakeholder meeting on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) in May this year a road map was adopted by which labour was to submit a proposal and a date for negotiations to begin.

He said the proposals were submitted on June 5, 2009, while June 12 was suggested as the date to start the negotiations.

Mr Asamoah said the government proposed June 19, 2009 only for the executive members of organised labour, some of whom had travelled long distances to come to Accra, to be told that the government team did not have the mandate to proceed.

He explained that with salaries, if an agreement was reached on a percentage increase, for instance, in June to take retrospective effect from January and payments began soon after, the value in the salary will not be the same due to inflation and other economic factors.

Mr Asamoah said leaders of organised labour have managed till now to hold back the agitation among its rank and file, who have to deal with inflation, increases in fuel prices, transportation and goods in general with the same salary.

With the lack of commitment shown by the government, however, pressure is mounting and industrial unrest is imment, he warned.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Mr Frederick Edusei has also allayed the fears of Ghanaians of an impending industrial action, saying that the stalling of the negotiation process is all part of the steps in negotiation.

He said the ultimatum given by organised labour is going to be looked at within the context of the whole negotiation process and the reaction by the government.

Source: Daily Graphic