Accra, April 7, GNA - The Teachers and Educational Workers' Union (TEWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has assured its members that the union is making progress in its discussions with stakeholders on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). It therefore called on those contemplating to undertake industrial action to exercise restraint while the Union, Managements and Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) worked to ensure smooth implementation of the SSSS in the best interest of all. In a press release issued by the union on Thursday in Accra, it provided information about levels it had reached and what had been achieved.

It indicated for instance that the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board employees had been migrated onto the SSSS since January 2011 and plans were far advanced to migrate those at the Ghana Library Board onto it.

On the Ghana Institute of Journalism, some grades/jobs have been re-evaluated by the FWSC and the new placements on the SSSS are yet to be released.

For the Ghana Education Service, it said discussions between the FWSC, Management of the GES and TEWU on the payment of the 15 percent retention premium to the non-teaching personnel was on-going. The release said the Union had demanded that the payment of the allowance should be extended to all classes of non-teaching personnel. It is expected that the discussions would be completed before April 15, 2011 and that the agreement and the resultant arrears would be implemented at the end of April, the release added. Furthermore the release said representatives of unions in the Ghana Education Service; TEWU, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGARAT) are currently deliberating on a joint proposals on Categories Two and Three Allowances for negotiation with management and the FWSC. Category Two is in respect of special circumstances that is acting allowance and transfer grants whereas category Three deals with welfare related issues example night allowance, funeral grants and maintenance allowance. The release said the FWSC had released a timetable for the negotiations of Categories Two and Three allowances with the respective service classifications. On Public Universities, it said the Vice Chancellors Ghana (VCG) and organized labour in the public universities including TEWU, Federation of University Senior Staff Associations of Ghana (FUSSAG), Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) are working with the FWSC to ensure the smooth migration of the personnel onto the SSSS. On the Polytechnics, it said some grades/jobs had been re-evaluated by the FWSC for appropriate placements on the SSSS. The release said the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics and Organised Labour in the Polytechnics; TEWU, Polytechnic Administrators' Association of Ghana and Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana have worked on harmonized proposals of Categories Two and Three Allowances for the consideration of the FWSC.