Ho, Mar 15, GNA - Dr Yaw Baah, Deputy-Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress of Ghana, (GTUC) on Monday urged workers' representatives at all levels to eschew divisiveness as labour engage government on the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP). He said the next few months to the July, 2010 deadline were crucial and that the lingering hand that sows "disunity within labour ranks must be isolated and cut off".

Dr Baah was delivering a paper on an overview of the SSPA at a two-day workshop on the "Single Spine Salary Structure and the Constitutional Review," in Ho, sponsored by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Dr Baah, a Labour Economist, conceded that the scheme was a challenging one but with huge advantages for workers in Ghana, who were among the lowest paid on the continent.

He said when the employer is ready to listen to grievances it is not proper for labour to go on the streets. "We don't do industrial relations on the street when the employer is ready to listen and for a scheme like this, hitches should be expected," Dr Baah stated.

He insisted that the programme was on course and that the gravitation to the new grading scale was only part of the process and should not be confused with scales on the supposed spine. Dr Baah said labour and the Fair Wages Commission (FWC) were yet to determine the base pay and relativities to determine the spine pay structure.

He said the policy besides ensuring equity was also to raise wage levels in the public sector. Danaa Nantogmah, Programmes Coordinator of the FEF, said the workshop should tackle issues such as determining the market premium on certain jobs and the standardization of allowances. He said the workshop would also make some input into current discussions on the Constitutional Review, especially on the provision that allowed the payment of ex-gratia allowance to political office holders while canceling end-of service benefits for other workers. 15 Mar 10