Salary Negotiations Break Down

After six months of relative stability on the labour front, a major industrial unrest looms in the days ahead as organised labour bares its teeth at the government for its lack of commitment towards the determination and payment of salaries for public sector employees for this year.

A scheduled meeting with the government on salary negotiation hit a snag last Friday, after which organised labour issued a one-week ultimatum to the government to take concrete steps on the matter or risk industrial unrest.

“If by Friday, June 26, 2009 nothing concrete comes from the government on salaries for public sector employees for 2009, the leadership of organised labour cannot take responsibility for any industrial unrest,” it cautioned in a statement signed by representatives of 13 labour bodies and issued in Accra last Friday.

At that abortive negotiation, which was under the auspices of the Fair Wages Commission (FWC), the government team pleaded with organised labour to reschedule the meeting for two weeks’ time to enable it to secure a mandate from the government but the request did not go down well with the representatives of organised labour at the meeting who felt slighted by the last-minute cancellation of the meeting, particularly so when some of them had travelled from as far as the Brong Ahafo Region to Accra for that meeting.

With that ill feeling and the increasing pressure from the rank and file of organised labour, the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, and the General Secretary of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), Mr Dan Ayim Antwi, told the Daily Graphic in separate interviews that the one-week ultimatum to the government was irrevocable

Mr Asamoah said workers had been reeling under the high cost of living occasioned largely by the recent increases in the prices of petroleum products and spiralling inflation levels, adding that such factors would erode the real value of any increment in salaries if it was unduly delayed.

“Our members will even lynch us if we decide to wait for another two weeks. Workers have become disquiet. In fact, there is a lot of agitation among our rank and file,” Mr Antwi said.

Among the 13 members of organised labour which jointly issued the ultimatum were the TUC, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSSAG), the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) and the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA).

The warning follows what organised labour described as “its displeasure and disappointment” at the attitude of the government towards the determination and payment of public sector salaries for this year.

Giving a background to their resolve, the statement made reference to a communiqué issued after a three-day stakeholders’ meeting on the Single Spine Pay Policy at GIMPA last May, which communiqué indicated that pending the implementation of the new salary policy in January 2010, salary negotiations for public sector workers for 2009 would commence from June 1, 2009.

It said organised labour submitted its proposal to the government on June 5, 2009 and suggested a negotiation meeting on June 12, 2009 but the government requested the rescheduling of the meeting for Friday, June 19, 2009.

The statement said at the meeting last Friday, organised labour was informed by the government negotiation team that consultations on its mandate had not yet been concluded, hence the need to reschedule the meeting.

Throwing more light on the issue, Mr Asamoah said after the parties had agreed that the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) should be implemented from January 1, 2010, the normal thing to do was to increase the salaries of public sector workers.

He said for the past six months the leadership of organised labour had tried to keep workers calm, in spite of the high cost of living, but what happened last Friday was a clear show of the government’s lack of commitment towards negotiations for new salaries and that gave a serious cause for concern.

Mr Asamoah urged the government to appreciate the goodwill exhibited by workers during the past six months and reciprocate that gesture with much more commitment to the process.

For his part, Mr Antwi said organised labour had shown good faith with the government because it appreciated the fact that as a new government there was the need to give it some time to settle down.

He, therefore, urged the government to act expeditiously on the new salaries for public sector workers in order to promote the development of the country.