EXPEDITE ACTION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SALARY STRUCTURE (PAGE 54)

STORY: Nana Konadu Agyeman, Koforidua

THE Eastern Regional branch of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has called on the government to expedite action on the implementation of the fair wages and salary structure for teachers and other workers to enable them to improve their living standards.
 The association also urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to immediately institute measures to correct salary distortions among some teachers who had not been put on the correct grade or salary scale.
  At a press conference in Koforidua at the weekend, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the association, Mr Frank Oppong, said "It is now clear that the promise of the government to implement the fair wages and salaries is becoming a mirage and a mere lip-service."
 ”The government's failure to implement this fair wages and salary structure is posing a growing threat to industrial harmony since it is a recipe for labour agitation," he stated.
 The chairman of the association said the government, in its attempt to find a pragmatic and lasting solution to NAGRAT's strike action in 2006, established a fair wages and salary commission to work towards the speedy implementation of a pay reform and come up with a comprehensive wages and salary structures for all workers.
  He said in spite of the assurance by the government that negotiations of the salaries would be factored into the 2007 budget, this was not done and "the government came out again with the promise to factor the new pay policies into the 2008 budget, which was brought before Parliament by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.
"We are heading towards the end of the first quarter of 2008 and yet there is no light at the end of the tunnel," the chairman pointed out.
According to him, in spite of the high cost of living due to astronomical increase in fuel prices, electricity bills and other utility bills, there had not been any corresponding increase in salaries and wages of teachers and workers, a condition which, he said, had created severe financial and economic hardships for them.
He, therefore, urged the government to make "the happiness and well-being of workers its priority".
He further expressed the association's disappointment at the low level of responsibility allowances that were being paid to teachers for the past 10 years.
"Heads of institutions are being given GH¢3.00, heads of department, senior housemasters and housemistresses GH¢1.50 and form masters, form mistresses, housemasters and housemistresses paid GH¢1.00. The sad aspect of these responsibility allowances is that apart from being static for the past decade, they are not paid regularly either," he added.
He also expressed the displeasure of the association about the sudden halt in the payment of annual increment for workers without any justifiable reasons, something which hitherto took effect from September 1, every year.
He, therefore, urged the government to be more sensitive and responsive to the concerns of the members of the association, adding, "teachers can no longer wallow in the quagmire of poverty and over-exploitation".
"We have sacrificed our comfort, dignity, energy and time for the general well-being of our students and the advancement of the country for far too long. This is the right time to demand our fair share of the national cake," he said.
Mr Oppong indicated that if concerns of the members of the associations were not addressed within the shortest possible time, "we NAGRAT members in the Eastern Region will hold both the NAGRAT national officers and the government accountable".