The General Secretary of the Public Service Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Richard Amparbeng, has called on public service workers to work extra hard to increase productivity to commensurate the country’s huge wage bill.

He said as a major complement sector in the country, public sector workers should change their attitude to work by avoiding lateness, absenteeism and truancy to enhance profitability and productivity.

Mr Amparbeng made the call at a two-day seminar for 60 members of the PSWU from the various districts in Eastern Region in Koforidua on union activities and other socio-economic development in the country.

He said the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) had increased the country’s wage from GH¢2.7 billion to GH¢7.4 billion which is 46 per cent of the nation’s recurrent expenditure and 26 per cent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

The General Secretary noted that even with this wage bill, workers’ salaries could not sustain them and that the Public Sector Negotiating Committee would soon make the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to restore the eroded income over the years.

He said if effective measures were not taken, the euro bound which affected European countries like Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany, could also affect Ghana and therefore called for hard work to increase productivity.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the PSWU, Mr Peter Ametameh, commended the union executive for the seminar and called for such seminars regularly to enable members upgrade their knowledge in trade union activities and other socio-economic development activities of the country.