Sunyani, March 10, GNA-- Some employers in the private sectors are declaring as low as 6,000 cedis as salaries of their workers in order to avoid the payment of their social security contributions.

Mr Kofi Agyarey, Brong Ahafo regional manager of the Social Security and National Trust (SSNIT) disclosed this at a forum on the amendment of social security law at Sunyani on Friday.

He said to forestall this practice and protect the interest of workers, the law is being amended to make it mandatory for such employers to pay contributions based on the national minimum wage.

He said under the proposed amendment, employers who default in the payment of workers contributions would be made to pay the current rates on treasury bills plus four per cent on the arrears as penalty.

Mr Agyarey urged workers to ensure that their employers contribute to the SSNIT pension scheme. The regional secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Michael Quarm, in a welcoming address, said it is in the right direction for the SSNIT to seek workers' views on the proposed amendment.

The TUC, he said, is to embark on a nation-wide census programme to enable it know the actual number of members to make for effective planning. Mr Quarm assured the workers of the determination of the union to ensure that all anomalies created by the implementation of the Price Waterhouse report are rectified.

The regional chairman of the TUC, Mr Stephen Nyame-Yamoah asked SSNIT to always seek the views of workers since it owes its existence to their contributions.

GNA