Director of Research and Policy at the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Dr Kwabena Otoo, has called for an integrated salary structure for all public sector workers in the country.

According to him, this is to address the pay gap between Article 71 holders and public sector workers in the country. He revealed that he hopes to have a combination in a pay administration where there’s some reduction in salaries of Article 71 holders and an increase in that of public sector workers, albeit “it is difficult to reduce somebody’s pay”.

Dr Otoo indicated that in this case, what can be done is “raise the bottom” of public sector workers salary.

“So, that is one area we will be looking for. But also, we have to have a mechanism that ensures that we are all on an integrated salary structure, so that everybody knows which group is receiving what percentage annually, so that we arrest this escalating imbalance [and] inequity between the various groups within the public sector. We are looking for a situation where we could have for example, a truly Single Spine Salary Structure on which everybody [and] every group’s salary will be determined.”
Dr Kwabena Otoo

Dr Otoo noted that it is not out of place to have Article 71 holders on the Single Spine Salary Structure, even if they remain on a separate salary structure. He explained that it is possible to technically link them so that “whatever is given to the bottom, is related one way or the other to the top”. By doing so, he stated that government can “arrest these escalating inequities” which the Union has observed in the public sector pay space.

Addressing pay gap within the public sector

Commenting on the General Secretary for TUC, Dr Anthony Yaw Baah’s statement on the resolve of the Union to end the class system in pay administration as it favours Article 71 holders, Dr Otto highlighted that the class system within the salary structure of workers “is obscene and ought to be eliminated”.

The TUC’s Director of Research elaborated that the class system happens when the bulk of the people who are on the Single Spine Salary Structure receive very low salaries and this translates into low pensions when they retire. Conversely, he stated that there are also a few privileged people under “Article 71 and also some levels in the state-owned enterprises receiving what everyone think is a hefty pay” and again, it translates into a hefty pension when they retire.

“The class system becomes even more revealing when you realize that the group of public sector officials that do not contribute to pension are actually earning better pension when they retire than those on SSNIT who contribute to pension. If you take the SSNIT itself, you have these huge inequities where you have the bulk of the people down there earning about GHC300 in a month and you have somebody on the same pension scheme earning about GH142,000 a month.”
Dr Kwabena Otoo

In a bid to close the gap identified within the pay administration of public sector workers, Dr Otoo revealed that the Union will capitalize on the ongoing review process of the Single Spine together with the other pay regimes in the public sector. He emphasized that as the Secretary General of the TUC noted in the press statement, “we have our eyes and ears firmly fixed on the outcome of that process”.

“… Government must come round and work with us to ensure that this review process thoroughly overhauls the public sector pay regime to make it fairer and also to enhance the pay levels of particularly people at the bottom of the pay structure.”
Dr Kwabena Otoo