The Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is facing a potential indefinite strike as staff
members have threatened to lay down their tools if their allowances are not
restored within the next week.
At a press
conference on Friday, June 2, Sam Nat Kevor, the Divisional Union Chairman of
GBC, called on all employees to wear red armbands and attire to work for the
following week as a sign of protest unless their demands are met.
The withdrawal
of allowances by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has caused
dissatisfaction among employees who believe their hard work is not being
adequately recognized and rewarded.
Employees are
questioning whether the removal of allowances is a result of IMF conditions to
reduce the wage bill.
Under the new
arrangements, some GBC staff will experience a 33% reduction in their current
salaries.
The employee
union has also called for the dismissal of the Chief Executive Officer of the
Commission.
The Fair Wages
and Salaries Commission has initiated a Nationwide Payroll Monitoring Exercise
with the Internal Audit Agency in accordance with the FWSC Act, 2007.
During this
exercise, it was discovered that some GBC staff are receiving allowances they
are not entitled to, including rent, housing, utility, vehicle maintenance, and
transportation allowances.
But the Fair
Wages and Salaries Commission has justified its decision to block the payment
of allowances to some staff of GBC.
The Commission
insisted that the over GH¢2 million paid as allowances to the staff of the
state broadcaster must be refunded.
The CEO of the
Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Benjamin Arthur in an earlier interview
said the Commission will do what is right after the Commission had earlier
written to officials of GBC notifying them of the current decision.
“The action that
has been taken is the right course. These are unapproved allowances, and they
were never negotiated in the Single Spine Salary Structure. It has always been
consolidated and they [the allowances] never existed.”
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