Mr George Smith-Graham, Chief Executive Officer
of Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), on Wednesday denied reports that the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy had been deferred to 2011.
"FWSC wishes to re-assure its stakeholders that the process of mapping and migration of public service employees onto the SSSP is on course and the Government is still committed to the implementation of this new pay policy", he said.
Mr Smith-Graham was addressing the Seventh Stakeholders Forum on the Single Spine Pay Policy to discuss the implementation and report on the
standardisation of allowances.
He said the major issue confronting implementation of the policy and FWSC was the Market Premiums and Inducement Allowances, and the Commission was working on the modalities for scrutiny by the stakeholders adding "FWSC would meet individual institutions to justify the need for the market premium".
Mr Smith-Graham said FWSC was committed to resolving and managing challenges of the new policy with the active support from stakeholders.
"It is instructive to note that for the successful implementation of the policy in a fair, transparent and equitable manner, all stakeholders must be conscious of the fact that, the Single Spine Pay Policy is a process and not event", he said.
He expressed concern about the slow pace of the mapping of employees of the various institutions.
Mr Smith-Graham noted that personnel from 28 out of 80 public service institutions had been trained to be involved in the mapping of employees of their respective institutions and had completed task resulting in their migration onto the Structure.
He said FWSC had taken cognisance of these challenges and would not engage in any selective, isolation and treatment of particular professional
groups but would deal with issues holistically to ensure fairness and equity in the implementation process.
Mr Smith-Graham announced that FWSC had established an SSSP implementation task force to ensure its effective implementation to deal
with challenges that might arise later.
It includes members from Controller and Accountant-General's Department, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Organised Labour,
associations, institutions and the FWSC.