The Secretary-General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, says government should start implementing the single spine salary structure from January next year as agreed with stakeholders. Addressing a meeting of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Council of Labour, he noted that all issues holding back the implementation of the new salary structure would have been resolved by that time. Mr Asamoah said workers should have a clear understanding of the salary structure as the removal of salary disparities in the public sector and not a means of improving salaries. He said workers in the public sector who were paid directly by the government would benefit from the new salary structure although employers in the private sector could adopt it. Mr Asamoah said the government could not impose salaries on workers as it has ratified international conventions on collective bargaining and that workers in the private sector could engage in salary negotiations with their employers. According to him, it is because the government is signatory to the convention that a new minimum wage is announced every year, adding, that discussions on the minimum wage for the next budget is on-going. Mr Asamoah said the new pension scheme would also take off in January next year and deductions for the scheme would begin that same month. He said the new pension scheme, when implemented, would give relief to pensioners and asked workers to prepare well for retirement. Source: GNA