Workers must justify pay rise

Last Friday, the anxiety of public sector workers over a new minimum wage was put to rest when the National Tripartite Committee increased the national daily minimum wage from GH¢5.24 to GH¢6, an upward adjustment of  14.5 per cent. In addition, a 10 per cent cost of living allowance (COLA), based on 2013 basic salaries, has been awarded to public sector workers.

The Daily Graphic appreciates the fact that the daily minimum wage is the rate below which no public sector wage earner may be paid, the reason why even at what may be said to be a low GH¢6, the Ghanaian worker ought to be grateful. 

We recall that at the last tripartite committee meeting, negotiations had been preceded by uncertainty following suggestions for the freezing of public sector wages after the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), which the directors of the economy say is one of the reasons the economy is suffering. 

Some say we were lucky to have observed the last May Day without any nasty incidents.

The payment of salaries and allowances of workers has significantly gone up since the implementation of the SSPP and from what people in government were saying, it looked as if we were heading for a government-worker confrontation over wages until the new wage was announced. 

The leadership of organised labour has been very interested in fighting for higher wages for its members, and rightly so, in fulfilment of its mandate. We commend the rapport that existed among the parties, albeit with some ‘normal’ disagreements, that has enabled the parties to arrive at a new minimum wage.

It is sad to say, however, that organised labour does not appear to be doing much to ensure that workers up their game to ensure that the state achieves a reciprocal benefit for the cost of having to remunerate workers.

We dare say that many of the duties and responsibilities of workers in the public sector can be equally executed by far less than the number of employees currently undertaking those tasks.

But in the face of  the current unemployment levels, it will be unheard of to talk of cutting down staff levels.

But the Daily Graphic is convinced that with the right attitude, Ghana can reap a lot more benefit from workers. 

That is why workers’ leaders must be seen to be whipping their members to work harder in their various tasks. Public sector workers must execute their respective tasks the way a private businessman would to achieve maximum output. Let it be said of workers that they are only pretending to work.

Another issue that has been a bane to the proper spending of state funds on employees has been the issue of ‘ghost’ employees. Recent revelations of many ‘ghost’ names on the payrolls of some institutions are a sad commentary on the management of state resources. 

Such ‘ghosts’ ought to be exorcised from the payroll to reduce government spending on salaries.

The state, like any business organisation, cannot grow or even survive without properly addressing the issue of poor attitude to work. Many of the problems facing the country will be history if workers change their lackadaisical attitude to work.