Government has tasked the Ministry of Finance and Economic planning and the Bank of Ghana to fashion out a new holistic salary and pensions administration system that will improve general salary levels and pensions of the Ghanaian worker.

As the Ministry and BoG are working on the report of the Presidential Commission on pensions chaired by T A Bediako, Government is expected to announce a new and comprehensive salary and wages scheme within the next few months.

Addressing a May Day rally attended by the national and local branches of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union and the Construction and Allied Workers? Union, Ghana at the International Trade Fair Centre in Accra Monday, Alan Kyerematen, Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector and PSI, who represented President John Agyekum Kufuor, said increased remunerations would motivate workers to work harder to make salaries and wages grow exponentially with the economy as productivity increased.

Mr Kyerematen said employers and workers needed to network with others inside and outside Ghana to derive maximum synergy to move employer/union relations forward to help transform the country into a middle income nation in 2015 through massive sustained industrialisation.

?We need a new work culture that recognises and rewards hard work by both workers and employers that protects the interest of the enterprises in order to guarantee the sustainability of jobs for their workers. ?Employer/labour relations should be a win-win situation. The parties need each other and the more transparent the relations, the better. And I am sure the Labour Law provides for all these to happen, granted we respect and follow its provisions,? he stated.

The ICU celebrated May Day under the theme: ?The Labour Law as an instrument for sustaining Ghanaian Industries through Employer-Union Collaboration? to underscore the importance of good relations between employers and workers. The ICU is the biggest organiser of workers engaged in banks, insurance and financial institutions, tourism, hotel, catering and allied industries, retail and commercial businesses, paper and printing industries, public boards and corporations, textile garments, leather and fur, metal and automobile, professional and managerial staff, the informal sector and general industries. The Minister commended ICU for placing on premium on national and industrial discipline since with it ?we can collectively more the economic fortunes of [the] country forward at a faster place.? Observing that the usual conflict between employers and labour would not augur well for both of them, he urged employers and unionised workers to align themselves to serve the interests of shareholders and customers instead ?to balance the equation.?

He disclosed that a MSME?World Bank Group Project facility of $45 million would be operational this month, while the Export Development and Investment Fund would have its coverage and scope expanded to include non-export activities. In a speech, Napoleon D K Kpoh, the General Secretary of ICU, stated that employers and workers cannot afford to be antagonistic towards each other in a highly competitive global goods and services market. ?Rather, they must work together in tandem to raise the level of productivity and the equality of their products so that our enterprises/institutions can become more competitive to sustain our jobs.

?This cannot be achieved unless there exists mutual respect and trust in the relationship at the workplace. This means employers recognising the contribution of workers and remunerating them appropriately. Workers, on the other hand, must always remember that we can only share what we have created,? Mr Kpoh stressed.

He said, however, that some employers, who still think that employees are working in a master-servant industrial setting, victimise their workers at the least opportunity. ?They intimidate them and in a clandestine way, insist that workers join the union of the employers? preference? These employers should desist from such behaviour.?

The ICU General Secretary urged union members to be law-abiding and follow the advice of the leadership in their dealings, and remain calm even if provoked by employers.

Mr Kpoh expressed dissatisfaction about deteriorating health and safety conditions at some factories that have resulted in workplace-related injuries and ergonometric diseases as well as deaths; he attributed the situation to the inability of the Factories Inspectorate to effectively carry out its mandate due to lack of manpower and other resources.

He announced that the headquarters office complex project was near completion and it is expected to be opened in July this year, and called on members who have not yet paid their contributions to the project to do so immediately.

Four deserving ICU members, including the Senior Industrial Relations Officer at the Tema Local Union, and some employers were honoured with awards for their devoted services to the union, and their employees. The Cocoa Marketing Company, (Ghana) and Tema-based Minash were also presented with awards for being the best disciplined contingents at the May Day celebrations in 2005.