The single-spine salary structure has failed miserably – TUC

In an interview on Asaase Radio, Joshua Ansah, Deputy General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said that the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) since its implementation has failed to achieve its objective.

“this [SSPP] totally failed in achieving its goals. Because in 2010 we [public sector workers] greeted him. In fact, we claimed it thinking that it would change our fate in terms of wages, but it rather made the situation worse.

“A lot of things have been lost and we think we need to resurrect all the things that were wrong; put them on the table and look at the pros and cons, what didn’t go well, what went well and together we build a better structure for ourselves.

He added that “the disparities are many, one cannot imagine that the unique spine that was supposed to be one of the best structures in this country is today the worst. Those on the wage structure are now the lowest paid even below the minimum wage level. You can see this is a big negative by comparing it to the lenses in which the single spine has been implemented.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) says the work of union members has been taken over by special assistants and consultants appointed by the government.

“From this month, may we be spared the excesses of personal or special assistants of senior politicians who interfere with the day-to-day activities of civil servants, closing the office of substantive directors, attending meetings on behalf of institutions at the place of the personnel of the civil territorial administration or the service of the local administration.

“In some institutions, these personal assistants (hold) the positions and practically become the supervisors even though they have not received the required training and experience and are taking courses for serving officers”, he said so in a speech at the May Day commemoration.