Let's have a moratorium on strikes — P.V. Obeng

 

The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr Paul Victor Obeng, has called for a moratorium on strikes pending the resolution of the bottlenecks in the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP).

According to him, the implementation of the pay policy had brought about an unfair representation in the country's national income, resulting in an astronomical rise in the national wage bill.

'However, the government needs the co-operation of organised labour by calling a truce on industrial actions as a way to address the current agitations that have characterised the policy's implementation,' he said.

Mr Obeng made the call at the inauguration of a 16-member Post-forum Implementation Committee of the SSPP in Accra yesterday.

The committee, chaired by the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere, has been tasked to help implement the recommendations of the national forum on the sustainability of the SSPP.

It will also determine the lead and collaborating agencies to address all the recommendations.

In the same vein, members are to come up with appropriate strategies to address the recommendations within a specific timeline and also address any other issues related to the policy's sustainability.

Some members of the committee are Mr Austin Gamey, a labour consultant; Dr Yaw Baah of the Trades Union Congress; Mr Franklin Cudjoe of Imani Ghana; Mr Robertson Akwei Allotey of the Public Services Commission (PSC); Mr Joseph Kingsley Amuah of the Ghana Employers Association, and Mr George Smith-Graham of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

Representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Parliamentary Select Committees on Employment and Social Protection, as well as Finance, are also on the committee.

Mr Obeng indicated that while the pay policy had come to address some lapses in the public sector payroll, issues of low productivity and high wastage continued to plague the public sector.

He charged the committee to come up with a communication strategy for its public education activities in order to dissuade public misconceptions on the implementation programme.

'You must come up with responsive practical pieces of advice and also a work programme to identify what to do, so that the running of the committee would not become an additional cost to the nation,' Mr Obeng told the committee.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashittey, said 'the success of the recent sustainability forum of the pay policy can only be measured depending on how far the recommendations of the implementation can be met'.

A national forum on the sustainability of the SSPP was held on the theme, 'Building national consensus of the Single Spine Pay Policy' in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, from August 5-7, this year.

The forum, which brought together government officials, employers and civil society organisations (CSOs), saw participants call for wage negotiations to be concluded before budgets were read in Parliament.

Participants also called for work and productivity to be linked in the public sector based on target setting and performance contracting.

THE Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr Paul Victor Obeng, has called for a moratorium on strikes pending the resolution of the bottlenecks in the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP).

According to him, the implementation of the pay policy had brought about an unfair representation in the country's national income, resulting in an astronomical rise in the national wage bill.

'However, the government needs the co-operation of organised labour by calling a truce on industrial actions as a way to address the current agitations that have characterised the policy's implementation,' he said.

Mr Obeng made the call at the inauguration of a 16-member Post-forum Implementation Committee of the SSPP in Accra yesterday.

The committee, chaired by the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere, has been tasked to help implement the recommendations of the national forum on the sustainability of the SSPP.

It will also determine the lead and collaborating agencies to address all the recommendations.

In the same vein, members are to come up with appropriate strategies to address the recommendations within a specific timeline and also address any other issues related to the policy's sustainability.

Some members of the committee are Mr Austin Gamey, a labour consultant; Dr Yaw Baah of the Trades Union Congress; Mr Franklin Cudjoe of Imani Ghana; Mr Robertson Akwei Allotey of the Public Services Commission (PSC); Mr Joseph Kingsley Amuah of the Ghana Employers Association, and Mr George Smith-Graham of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

Representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Parliamentary Select Committees on Employment and Social Protection, as well as Finance, are also on the committee.

Mr Obeng indicated that while the pay policy had come to address some lapses in the public sector payroll, issues of low productivity and high wastage continued to plague the public sector.

He charged the committee to come up with a communication strategy for its public education activities in order to dissuade public misconceptions on the implementation programme.

'You must come up with responsive practical pieces of advice and also a work programme to identify what to do, so that the running of the committee would not become an additional cost to the nation,' Mr Obeng told the committee.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashittey, said 'the success of the recent sustainability forum of the pay policy can only be measured depending on how far the recommendations of the implementation can be met'.

A national forum on the sustainability of the SSPP was held on the theme, 'Building national consensus of the Single Spine Pay Policy' in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, from August 5-7, this year.

The forum, which brought together government officials, employers and civil society organisations (CSOs), saw participants call for wage negotiations to be concluded before budgets were read in Parliament.

Participants also called for work and productivity to be linked in the public sector based on target setting and performance contracting.