Workers disappointed about salary reforms - TUC

Wa, April 4, GNA - The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) says Ghanaian workers are disappointment about government's inability to implement the single spine salary structure promised them. It said expectations among workers had been dashed and that could lead to low productivity at workplaces.

The TUC therefore urged government to compensate workers realistically with good negotiating salary percentages to boost their morale to enhance productivity and forestall industrial actions. Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Acting Secretary General of the TUC, said this when he interacted with public sector workers in the Upper West Region at the first quarter Wa District Council of Labour/ Upper West Regional Executive Committee of Labour meeting in Wa on Friday to update them on the public sector salary reforms and other developments at the labour front.

He said public sector workers' salaries were still low and there were also delays in the payment of salaries despite the numerous contributions made by workers to keep government machinery working. He said there were also distortions in the minimum wage as some employers were still refusing to implement it at their workplaces. Mr. Asamoah called on the government to enforce the law to compel all employers to comply.

He said salary distortions at workplaces were hampering workers performance and urged the government to address the disparities as soon as possible to restore industrial harmony.

Mr. Asamoah said: "Some workers, especially those serving in the hotel industry, are still living on tits and we need to enforce the law to bring people out of poverty".

He called on the government to take a second look at the taxes on petroleum products and reduce some of them to cushion cost of living for workers.

Mr. Asamoah said TUC was negotiating with the Judicial Service to put aside a special court to deal with labour disputes and offences to ensure workers and employers see themselves as partners in development. On the political scene, Mr. Asamoah said Ghana had progressed quite well since constitutionalism was introduced in 1992 and said he was confident that the 2008 elections would be peaceful as the previous ones.

He however cautioned political party leaders and their members and all other political actors to exercise decorum in their electioneering campaigns and refrain from actions that could inflame passions thereby leading to chaos.

Some of the workers were of the opinion that the TUC had gone to bed with the government and was not proactive as it used to be. The workers said they believed the TUC had always compromised with government when it came to negotiating for better salaries and improved working conditions for workers.

The workers accused the TUC of paying less attention to helping weaker unions to negotiate for better collective bargaining agreements. They called on the TUC to guarantee employment for workers to make them secure from arbitrary dismissals by their employers, saying: "We need job security before we can put in our best".