General News of Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Source: xfm 95.1/ accra/ ghana

POTAG fights FWSC and government over delayed migration onto SSSS

The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has decried the slow pace of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) in their migration onto the scheme.

Members of the Kumasi Polytechnics are on the red alert to resist any further delays in their migration unto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and calling on the government to intercede.

The Fair Wages Commission has requested POTAG to furnish it with the bio-data of members before the migration could be done; but this POTAG is contesting, explaining that other institutions on the SSSS did not furnish the FWSC with their bio-data as a pre-condition for their migration.

Edmund Oppong chairman of POTAG Kumasi says POTAG have not being migrated to date.

³Originally the migrations should have been done in December 2011, this was not possible. We (POTAG) are the first to conceive that a lot of strides have been made so far. The gradient structure has been done, the premium has been set, though POTAG gain a lot of concession².

³Mapping was done about a month ago and we wonder what stops the Fair Wages and Salary Commission, Ministry of Finance and Economy Planning, the Controller and Accountant General Department from migrating and paying us ( POTAG) our single spine salaries².

³Among all the public servant that were migrated, none of them was asked to present the bio-data, so why POTAG² he quizzed.

He cautioned the FWSC and the government to act promptly since POTAG would not be help liable if the tension degenerates into a strike, saying, ³we are presently on a red alert, the red flags are high, and we do not want the situation to pertain into a strike action before the government act. So the government should advice itself and act now.²