July 12, 2017
In the quest to effectively link pay to productivity, the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) has agreed to set up a committee to review Ghana’s pay system.
Among the objectives, the proposed committee is expected to institute measures to “overhaul” the country’s payment structure to engender productivity while protecting the rights of the worker in a suitable work environment.
It is expected that the review of the system would also lead to the creation of a unified pension scheme, with a focus on the second tier.
A communiqué issued at the end of the NTC annual negotiations, out of which the new national minimum wage of GHc9.68 (representing a 10 percent increase), was announced, said such an overhaul has become critical towards enhancing the welfare of workers while promoting the growth of businesses.
Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, who read the communiqué on behalf of the NTC at a meeting to announce outcomes of the Committee’s negotiations, said the committee would review the pay structure to improve productivity both at the national and organisational levels.
He said the Committee had accepted the challenge thrown by President Akufo-Addo to labour at the 2017 May Day celebration, to consider ways to increase productivity and reward workers for their inputs into production at both national and organisational level.
Mr Awuah said the review would affect the Single Spine Salary system, so as to address the challenges that have bedeviled its implementation.
The NTC, which is composed of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Trades Union Congress and the Ghana Employers Association, called on all organisations whose daily minimum wage was below the new rate to adjust it upward by the 2018 effective date.
Dr Yaw Baah, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, who represented organised labour, said that inflation was expected to fall below 10 percent in 2018, thus the 10 percent increase in the minimum wage.
That would allow workers especially those in the informal sector who earn minimum wage secure some gains, he explained.
He urged the government to carry out its responsibility of ensuring compliance with the daily minimum wage by all employees.
He said the labour division of the Ministry should be resourced to monitor compliance with the rate.
He also urged the government to ensure that persons who earned a minimum wage were exempt from taxes.
Mr Terrence R. Darko, President of the Ghana Employers’
Association observed that some employers who were structured, paid above the minimum wage, adding that negotiations at the enterprise level were dependent on the performance of that particular company and the ability to adjust.
“We are all fully aware of the difficulties that we all face, as individuals, as employees and as employers. We are all working towards the restructuring of our economy so that we can see growth in this economy; with that, we will all benefit in the long term,” he said.
By: Nii Adotey/adrdaily.com
