Our fight is with our employer, not a third party — GMA
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has said the determination of an employee’s condition of service is the responsibility of the employer and not a third party.
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“Our fight is, therefore, with our employer and not with any union, organisation or group,” the Deputy General Secretary of the GMA, Dr Justice Yankson, explained to the Daily Graphic in an interview.
He said this in response to criticism that doctors had representation on a technical committee chaired by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) that worked on conditions of service and other allowances for public servants on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and could not, therefore, blame the government about delays in concluding a condition of service for them.
The deputy general secretary said such criticisms were unfounded.
He said other public servants such as police officers were represented on the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC), however, they already had a concluded and gazetted condition of service, and that had been done as far back as 2012.
Dr Yankson said the discussion of a condition of service for medical doctors did not have to be the responsibility of a third party such as the PSJSNC.
“The PSJSNC is not the forum for discussing our condition of service. It is the forum where unions, represented by their leaders and the government, represented by the FWSC, discuss the base pay and relativities of the SSSS,” he said.
He said just as the government had sat with leaders of the police service and state attorneys to conclude and bind themselves to a framework under which they would perform their functions, doctors should also benefit from the same treatment and not be told to defer their demands and discuss within the PSJSNC.
“Doctor’s jobs are classified under the laws as essential services, and not essential slavery. We are just championing a cause that is basic and not out of the norm,” he said.
CI 76
The gazetted document referred to by the deputy general secretary, that is the Police Service Regulations, 2012 (CI 76), details from Regulation 46 to 63 the allowances that police personnel are entitled to.
Among the allowances are acting allowance, allowance for overseas training course, conference and duties, batman allowance, clothing allowance, duty allowance and height allowance.
The rest are kilometre allowance, relating to an allowance paid per kilometre at a rate approved by the Minister of Finance when an officer uses his personal vehicle in the discharge of an official duty, responsibility allowance, entertainment, risk, subsistence, transport, leave, transfer grant, tools and vehicle maintenance, as well as kit bag allowance.
Regulation 64 of CI 76 states that “the allowances specified in regulation 46 to 63 shall be reviewed every two years by the Council.”
Additionally, Regulation 76 provides for accommodation for police officers, with chief inspectors and those below his rank entitled to free accommodation, while officers living in their personal houses or rented accommodation are entitled to 20 per cent of their basic monthly salary as rent allowance.
In Regulation 78, a police officer, the spouse of an officer, four children below 18 years of that officer, a retired police officer and the spouse of a retired police officer are entitled to free and full medical, dental or eye care at the Police Hospital or Police clinic.