The Wage Indicator Project: Fair pay for equal work
Promoting social dialogue is an objective in the Decent Work Agenda as elaborated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and adopted by employers’ and employees’ organisations worldwide.
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Social dialogue in Africa is not a new phenomenon, but given the socio-economic situation, it can be argued that its functioning leaves room for improvement. The basis of any effective social dialogue is solid, reliable information for policy discussions and decision making. While the majority of high income countries have an extensive statistical and research capacity on virtually all segments of civil society, this is not the case for many African countries. Wage data, reliable, up to date, (and internationally comparable) are hard to come by. Yet this is key information for a better social dialogue.
Wage Indicator, therefore, provides real wage information. This data can be shared with stakeholders, such as employees, employers, governments and organisations of informal workers. Wage indicator actively cooperates with all these stakeholders with the prime aim to answer questions related to:
1. Real wages and real working conditions on the basis of its scientific surveys and;
2. Contract wages/Minimum Wages and Labour Law.
The Wage Indicator Foundation started in 2001 to contribute to a more transparent labour market for workers and employers. The Wage Indicator Project seeks to promote social dialogue which is an objective in the decent work agenda as elaborated by the ILO and adopted by employers and unions worldwide.
The Wage Indicator is an international, continuous web-based operation which provides countries with national websites which has content about wages, working conditions, labour standards and other work-related topics. The websites provide free information on occupation-specific wages, and enables visitors to share and compare wage information. The sites also contribute to a transparent labour market by providing free, accurate wage data through salary checks and web surveys. The Wage Indicator Project, therefore, seeks to address data deficiencies by providing reliable information on Wages/Salaries, Labour Laws and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs).
Social partners collaboration
Built in the Wage Indicator concept from its onset was close cooperation with trade unions, universities and media, such as large newspapers and popular web portals. More recent best practices have shown that labour departments and employers’ organisations should be targeted with relevant data as well. This considerably extends the potential impact of Wage Indicator data and services, especially when linked to shared themes and platforms.
The Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA) and the Trades Union Congress of Ghana (TUC-Ghana) have over the years collaborated and implemented a number of projects. One key project GEA and GTUC are collaborating on currently is the implementation and coordination of activities under the Wage Indicator Project. The activities include: holding fact-finding debates, management of mywage and africapay websites, collection, analysis and mediation sessions on minimum wage compliance, collection of CBAs and the holding of national stakeholder forum.
GEA manages the Mywage.org/Ghana and Africapay.org/Ghana websites and has organised campaigns to promote the websites. The websites received over 60,000 visitors in 2014 and 78,000 visitors in 2015.
Debates and minimum wage complaint forms
One of the key activities of the Wage Indicator project in Ghana is the organisation of fact-finding debates. The project also collects, analyses, compares and disseminates data on minimum wage, living wage and other working conditions across the world. Over the last two years, about 40 debates have been conducted among TUC-Ghana, GEA, and Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL). These debates were held across the 10 administrative regions of Ghana.
The debates covered both formal and informal sectors, including those in agriculture, banking, telecommunication, aviation, hospitality, public and private schools, physically challenged workers, market women, traders, artisans, garages, caterers, tailors and dressmakers, hair dressers and beauticians, wood workers, rural women farmers, dockworkers and the media.
The minimum wage survey has seen about 2,000 complaint forms distributed and about 1500 collected for analysis. Out of the complaint forms collected (about 15) needed to be resolved. In 2014, for instance, five of these cases were resolved in the petroleum sector and the others were resolved through informal discussions and negotiations with management and executives of associations. This year, it is expected that more compliance sessions would be held in the private sector.
The various sectoral groups are organised through their executives and a checklist which contains information on decent work (wages & salaries, occupational health and safety, leave administration, social security, employment contract, maternity protection etc) is used as a guide. The checklist is analysed and the key issues are prioritised for discussions among the moderators and participants.
Some of the key issues that have emerged include:
• Leave administration (annual leave)
• Occupation health and safety
• Social security (informal sector workers)
• Wages and salaries (private and informal sector workers)
• Maternity protection at work (formal and informal sector)
Impact of wage indicator project activities in Ghana
The following summarises the key impacts realised from the activities:
• The debates have enabled the two institutions (GEA/TUC) to advise and educate employees on their rights and responsibilities as enshrined in the Labour Act
• The debates have also offered a platform for workers to express their concerns in relation to their jobs
• The debates have further enhanced workplace cooperation
• The debates have also deepened dialogue among GEA, TUC and GFL and their constituents.
• For the informal workers, the debates have given them a platform to share their concerns, especially with local authorities
• The outcomes of the debates have served as a good source of information for stakeholders in assisting their members.
• The debates have also served as a source of information for engagements with the media
• Information gathered through the complaint forms have served as a database for stakeholders and as guide for decision making and policy discussions.
• The compliance sessions have been used to resolve labour-management disputes
• Assistance has also been given to people who send complaints and questions online
• The holding of national stakeholder meetings has enabled issues affecting workers to be brought to the fore for the consideration of the National Tripartite Committee
• The collection of CBAs has enabled countries to compare CBAs for improvement in their development of CBAs.
The GEA is committed to creating a harmonious industrial relations environment in the country and will continue to cooperate with its social partners in promoting socio-economic growth and development in the country.
• The writer is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Employers’ Association.