Single Spine workers to receive salary increases
Source: Goldstreetbusiness.com
Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah
Government has started moves to address salary disparities in the public sector after nearly a decade of implementing the single spine salary structure.
The move when completed will ensure that workers on the single spine salary structure enjoy higher salary increases than those outside the single spine.
The change to improve the equity in salary administration among the country's public sector workers is expected to take place later this year.
This was revealed by the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in the 2019 mid-budget review last month.
"It has been observed that Entities that are not on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and already having higher salaries, continue to enjoy higher salary adjustment annually than their counterparts on the SSSS. This has the tendency of widening the salary disparities in the public sector," Ofori-Atta said.
The SSSS is one of the major components of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) introduced by the government, with implementation starting in 2010, to regulate the payment of public service workers especially those under Article 190 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
Halfway through the year, expenditure on wages and salaries amounted to ¢17,212.9 million, about 1.0% higher than the target of ¢17,041.9 million.
The main reason attributed to the marginal overrun was higher than programmed wage-related allowances. In addition, about ¢47.2 million was used to clear wage arrears from previous years.
Earlier this year, Organized Labour called for a review of the Single Spine Salary Structure, to provide non-discriminatory and fair employee compensation, given that it has been operating for nearly a decade.
During the May Day Celebration in Kumasi in 2018, President Akufo-Addo noted that government will review the single spine salary structure comparative to salary standards in the private sector, and international salary standards among other factors.
"As we seek to establish a world-class labour force comparable to any in the world, we must address the concerns of workers in the public sector over their remuneration.
"An inter-ministerial committee is being established by the Ministries of Employment and Labour Relations and Finance, to undertake the review of the single spine pay policy and make recommendations for implementation by government," the President stated.
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