Accra, March 3, GNA - Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education= on Thursday reminded public sector workers that basic objective of the new pay policy was to correct distortions, anomalies and inequalities in salaries. In addition, it was to streamline salary pay administration in the public sector in the country.

Mrs Mould-Iddrissu was addressing a press conference on the main issue= s underlying the agitation of teachers, following the migration from Universa= l Salary Structure (USS) to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) in Accra= ..

On behalf of the Ministries of Education and Employment and Social Welfare, she appealed to all affected personnel to remain calm as the FWSC sought to rectify the anomalies. The main issues underlying the agitation of the teachers, brought to the Government's attention included errors on pay slips reported by teach= ers across the country following the migration from the Universal Salary Structure to the Single Spine Salary Structure.

They also claim the abolition of the 15 per cent Professional Allowance, general heightened of significant increases in salaries followin= g salary rationalization in the public sector in the implementation of the single spine. Mrs Mould-Iddrissu said: 93Government remains committed to improving the welfare of teachers because a satisfied and highly motivated teacher is indispensable to the achievement of Government's programme to build a reliable and dependable manpower base for our socio-economic development. Government will therefore continue to work towards improving the lot of teachers." She noted that there were reported genuine cases of errors on the pay slips of some teachers, reductions in the February salaries of some teacher= s within the Ghana Education Service (GES) following their migration on to th= e Single Spine Salary Structure of about 277,747 employees on the Ghana Education Service payroll. The Minister of Education pointed out that ordinarily, a test run of the system ought to have been conducted to verify the results of the migration process to ensure the output figures were accurate. However, due to an agreement reached between the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the Teachers' Unions, namely Ghana Nationa= l Association of Teachers (GNAT) and National Association of Graduate Teacher= s (NAGRAT), it was decided that payment under the need system should be effected by the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) in the month of February.

Mrs Mould-Iddrissu said there were reports that the leadership were under pressure from the teachers who were demanding an immediate migration into the new Salary Structure.

"It therefore did not come to us as a surprise when these anomalies and errors were reported. However, in anticipation of these challenges and lapses, a Technical Committee was set up to address any anomalies that migh= t occur in effecting payments. 93 "This Committee is verifying the payments and when they discover anomalies will rectify it and draw attention of the CAG to effect the changes. They are also to take complaints from individual teachers through their Regional Directorates. This Committee began its work last week end ar= e presently housed in Dodowa in the Eastern Region," she added. Mrs Mould-Iddrissu said in view of the circumstances, irregularities were to be expected but the Government would assure all teachers that the implementation of the new Single Spine Pay Policy would not disadvantage an= y teacher, adding 93These irregularities will be corrected soon and every teacher will receive the appropriate salary under the new pay policy." She said the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in its Election 2008 campaign manifesto, promised to increase teachers' professional allowance which at the time of coming into office of the NDC was 10 pesewas per month= ..

Before the determination of the conversion difference under the SSS Government in fulfillment of that promise increased the Professional Allowance of teachers by 15 per cent of their basic salary on May 18, 2010. This however took retrospective effect from January 1, 2010 and teachers were paid all the arrears due them. Secondly, the FWSC increased the grading of teachers by a two-steps upward adjustment.

"These two measures increased the total wage bill for the 277,747 employees on the Ghana Education Service payroll, from GH¢101,918,541.10 in January 2011 to GH¢136,857,468.26. This constitutes an increase by 34.28 per cent, after their migration onto the single Spine Salary Structure. This is by no means marginal", she added. The Sector Minister said the effects of these two measures were that teachers obtained an advantage in the determination of the conversion difference and their social security contribution and their retirement benefits. However, she said teachers in spite of having claimed the 15 per cent of their basic salary increase as their professional allowance which was subsequently consolidated into their basic salary since it was a Category One (1) allowance with their consent, still want to migrate to the Single Spine with an allowance. "It is noteworthy that FWSC has a standing agreement with the teacher= s' unions that new allowances will be introduced, including special allowances for teachers in underserved and deprived areas and those teaching subjects like science, mathematics, technical and vocational courses 93, she said. Mrs Mould-Iddrissu said due to a decision taken by FWSC that the migration process would take place in two phases; rationalisation of salaries and harmonisation and standardisation of Category 2 and 3 allowances, GNAT and NAGRAT had been urged by FWSC to avail themselves of that time framework.

"In this whole process, government has always been with teachers. We have no reason to antagonise teachers and GES staff numbering up to 277,747= .. We believe that during the second phase teachers' unions will have the opportunity to harmonise and standardise their allowances," she added.