26,000 ‘ghost workers’ must be given more time – Austin Gammey
Labour Analyst, Austin Gammey has advised the over 26,000 workers likely to miss their April salaries to negotiate for an extension of the implementation date of the policy.
The workers’ plight follows a directive from the Finance Ministry for the Controller and Accountant General to halt the payment of salaries as the workers failed to enroll in the biometric registration by SNNIT.
Finance Minister, Mr. Ofori-Atta in his presentation of the 2017 budget, announced government’s commitment to clean the payroll.
This was followed by a directive from the Minister to the Controller and Accountant General on the 10th of February 2017, to inform all public servants on the Government of Ghana mechanized payroll system who had not registered on the new SSNIT biometric system to do so by the end of February 2017.
The deadline was however later extended to March 31st 2017 by the Minister of Finance.
The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) is threatening a protest if their concerns for a further extension of time are not heeded.
Austin Gammey admits that government may not be justified, in its action and advises the affected workers to ask for an extension of time to enable them register.
“The employer should immediately meet with the social partners of labour to iron out their differences and agree on a time line as to how the registration could be done,” Mr. Gammey said.
He added, “But for them to use this method of excluding them from the pay roll it’s not right, they have to fend for their families, it will lead to a lot of problems and who knows what will happen.”
Source: citifmonline
