The Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has rebuffed calls to migrate Article 71 Office holders onto the Single Spine Salary Structure. He told Joy News such calls and suggestions are borne out of “anger and frustration” adding the way to go in ensuring equity in remunerations is not to ask politicians to “share in the poverty” of the Single Spine Salary Structure but rather to upgrade all public sector workers onto a higher salary structure. The Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress Kofi Asamoah as part of the May Day celebration proposed that public office holders under Article 71 must be drafted onto the Single Spine Salary Structure. He argued many of the strike actions in the labour front is as a result of inequities in remuneration of the workers in the Civil Service and those under Article 71. Kofi Asamoah posited that government cannot continue to blame the Single Spine for the huge budget deficit and therefore refuse to pay workers their entitlements when it is clear that those under Article 71 are being paid. He said to ensure fairness and equity in the public sector wage bill, those workers under Article 71 must be brought under the Single Spine Salary Structure. His suggestion appeared to have found favor with Dr Joe Abbey Executive Director of CEPA who argued that the political class appeared to have made political office the best job in town. But the politicians are not amused at all by the suggestion. Former Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Maxwell Kofi Jumah said the suggestion is highly emotive and should not be considered. His colleague who leads the Minority in Parliament also described as untrue claims that politicians are the highest earning employees in the country. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu said there are Chief Executive Officers, Managing Directors and Board Chairs in the Public Sector who earn far more than politicians in the country. He argued further that even if politicians were the highest earning employees in Ghana, the call for equity cannot be achieved by migrating them onto a poverty laden salary structure. “The motive should not be as I said sharing poverty. The principle should be bringing people up the ladder. That is my concern," he told Joy News' Evans Mensah. He agreed there is a general low salary levels in the country and hoped government will find better ways of motivating all workers by paying them well. When asked specifically if he was in favour of bringing everybody on the Single Spine Salary Structure, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said even the pronouncement by the TUC boss suggests that all is not well with the SSSS and for which reason it will be wrong to ask politicians and those under Article 71 to be drafted in the policy. He said the comments by Kofi Asamoah “should tell you that all is not well there [SSSS]. So if all is not well, should you say that for the Article 71 office holders it is good for them so let’s bring them to the all is not well group? Should the principle be lifting the SSSS group to the Article 71 or bringing Article 71 to SSSS?" he asked. The TUC boss who was called into the newsnight show said it not right to suggest that the SSSS is directed at impoverishing people. Mensah-Bonsu said his comment on poverty sharing is in context.