President John Dramani Mahama has promised to revise the Single Spine Salary Structure and the pension system as part of measures to address long-standing grievances among public sector employees.
The President provided the assurance at the commencement of the Ghana National Association of Teachers’ 54th National Delegate Congress and Seventh Quadrennial Conference in Accra on Monday, January.
The conference’s topic was “Education and Development: The Ghana Education Service at 50: Reflecting, Reviewing, Revising, and Growing the Profession and Unions.”
President Mahama stated that the current salary system is unacceptable and no longer serves the interests of workers.
He clarified that despite the Single Spine Salary Structure’s introduction to encourage equity and openness in public sector compensation, many employees were unhappy with its execution and later changes.
The President traced the policy’s history, pointing out that although the Kufuor administration introduced the structure, talks were not finished prior to the 2009 government change.
He stated that organised labour, under the direction of the Trades Union Congress, chose to renegotiate with the new government after rejecting the first agreement.
He claimed that before he left office in 2016, the government was able to pay accrued debts thanks to those negotiations, which ultimately resulted in a viable but flawed framework. He noted that since then, other distortions had taken place, making the system more troublesome.
According to President Mahama, organised labour has voiced concerns once more and has asked for a thorough examination of the pay scale.
He reaffirmed the government’s willingness to conduct the review to guarantee greater compensation, pointing out that higher compensation would boost employee enthusiasm and output.
Regarding pensions, the President mentioned that the Tier 2 and Tier 3 systems were created when pension changes were introduced a few years ago.
Although the revisions were initially widely regarded, he added that current issues indicated that further assessment was necessary.
He said that the government was ready to form a working group to review the pension system and suggest ways to increase workers’ retirement security after talks with the Trades Union Congress leadership.
Reverend Isaac Owusu, National President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, called for an urgent review of the Single Spine pay policy within the year to conform to the government’s Resetting Agenda during his welcoming speech.
A well-motivated teacher immediately contributed to better learning results for kids, he said, adding that higher pay and benefits were essential to acknowledging the role of teachers in national development.
Source: newsthemegh.com