Public sector workers migrated onto SSSS
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has achieved a 100-per cent migration of all public sector workers detailed to be migrated onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
Advertisement
The commission started with the migration of about 470,000 public sector workers from baseline data prior to the implementation of the new policy in January 2010.
Currently, it has migrated 480,434 public sector workers onto the unitary pay structure.
The current figure comprises the number of workers not roped onto the structure since the baseline survey was undertaken in 2006.
Institutions pending
The FWSC says the 100 per cent refers to only the institutions under its charge. Thus some institutions remain un-migrated.
Interestingly, among such institutions is the FWSC itself.
The Chief Executive of the commission, Mr George Smith-Graham, explained that the FWSC had not been migrated because it was not in existence at the time of the job evaluation surveys and processes for the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) in 2006.
The FWSC was established by Act 737 in 2007.
Additionally, he said, a referee could not be a player at the same time and, therefore, the commission, not wanting to be a referee and at the same time be involved in the grading and placement of its staff on the structure, had written to the Presidency suggesting that the Public Services Commission, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service or the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) take on the duty of grading and placing the FWSC staff on the SSSS.
Other Trending Stories
Independent Emoluments Commission
Other institutions which await resolution at the same foruzm are the Audit Service, the Parliamentary Service and the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Mr Smith-Graham explained that with the Audit Service and the Parliamentary Service, the challenge faced was that the setting of their salaries and conditions of service was dictated by the Constitution and the Parliamentary Service Board respectively.
However, the FWSC was of the opinion that in accordance with Section 32 of the FWSC Act 737, which repealed all prior arrangements relating to the setting of salaries and conditions of service by other institutions, and Section 29 which makes the commission solely responsible for all issues in relation to public sector pay administration, the institutions had to be on the SSSS.
He said the recommendations by the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) for an independent emoluments commission, on which the FWSC would be represented, would once and for all put an end to all challenges relating to workers in the public sector whose remuneration was detailed in Article 71 of the Constitution.
Progress
The FWSC is also planning a national productivity forum between May and June this year to seek the consensus of all Ghanaians on the productivity of the public service.
The forum will seek a clear pathway on the implementation of a public sector-wide performance management system (PSWPMS), which is the next major phase of the SSPP that will link the SSSS to productivity.
The PSWPMS had already been piloted and the instrument was being polished for implementation this year, Mr Smith-Graham said.
Other steps
He stated further that a labour market survey on the market premium by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in conjunction with the FWSC, was expected to be completed by the middle of the year.
On the harmonisation of allowances across the public service, he reported that the sub-committee of the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC) had completed its work, with the final report to be submitted soon.
Mr Smith-Graham further reported that work was progressing on the recommendations in the communique on sustaining the SSSS issued after the presidential forum on the SSPP in August 2013.
He said work on weaning some subvented organisations off the payroll was also going on.