Graphic, Fair Wages deepen collaboration

Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) is to deepen collaboration with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to help sensitise the public to their operations in a bid to foster industrial harmony in the country.

This came to light when management of FWSC, led by its Chief Executive Officer, Benjamin Arthur, visited the GCGL in Accra and interacted with the Editorial Board of the Daily Graphic, the flagship brand of the company.

The visit was to explore ways of enhancing cooperation between the two entities, and also leverage their respective fields of expertise for the service and development of the nation.

They were also taken round the newsroom and other facilities of the leading media organisation in the country.

Agenda setting

Mr Arthur lauded the GCGL for setting the news agenda and driving national discourse over the years, adding that the Daily Graphic was the epitome of media excellence in the country.

“Graphic’s reportage is considered the facts and the gospel truth. We very much appreciate what the GCGL has done and continues to do for the country by setting the news agenda and promoting national cohesion,” he added.

He said the paper had made professionalism a hallmark, adding “objectivity, truth and accuracy is what Graphic stands for”.

Mr Arthur stressed the important role the media could play in ensuring that accurate information on labour issues were made available to the public.

“We want the media to understand our work so that when people come to you with their grievances, you will know what questions to ask them and what to also demand from us,” he said.

“The government has a disposition of not antagonising Organised Labour, but since the Daily Graphic drives the agenda, if Fair Wages will succeed in educating and sensitising the public, then we have to collaborate with you because of your long years of excellence,” he added.

Support

The Editor, Graphic, Theophilus Yartey, pledged the company’s continuous commitment and support to the FWSC to improve public education on efficient public sector wage management.

Currently, the FWSC, as part of its mandate to develop and implement salary and job performance structures in the public sector as directed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is implementing an initiative that would link salaries and wages in the public sector to performance and productivity.

He said the Daily Graphic would, therefore, help sensitise people to such a critical initiative, as well as other activities by the commission that sought to ensure public sector workers understand the mandate of the commission in their negotiations.

Mr Yartey said the GCGL, as the leading media organisation that had consistently been the source of accurate and unbiased news for the past 74 years, was always ready to support any initiative that would promote sustainable development in the country.

He lauded the FWSC for consistently dealing efficiently with workers’ agitations over salaries in tandem with the law, and ensuring that both the government and workers were not short-changed in negotiations.

Digital space

Mr Yartey further said that the company had made some inroads in the digital media space to ensure its readers and audience consistently had access to quality and credible news on all platforms irrespective of time or place.

“Currently, we have the Graphic Online which provides quality news on the go; the Graphic NewsPlus, which is the digital version of the newspapers, and the Graphic Online TV, which has so much multimedia content to inform, educate and entertain,” he said.

Also, Mr Yartey said the company had digitised all its publications since 1950, to support people and organisations in their research.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh