The Ghana Employers Association (GEA) says the surest way Ghana can reduce the impact of the global financial crisis is to apply basic principles of productivity to improve the economy. Mr Charles Cofie, president of GEA, made this observation during a media encounter with the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), editors and senior journalists in Accra. It forms part of the programme of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the association. Mr Cofie said Ghana was in need of a productivity movement to be led by government in close collaboration with employers and organised labour in championing a campaign on national productivity. He said Ghana needed the right management and worker attitudes to benchmark its productive capacity to that of international productivity indicators. Mr Cofie said that was the only way to create a better Ghana, raising the standards of living of all Ghanaians to achieve the 1,000 dollar per capital national income at the very minimum. He said lack of productivity framework and its resultant indices to form the basis to determine compensation and remuneration packages for workers, was a problem besetting productivity improvement at various sectors to the economy. Other challenges are lack of technology, proficient labour force lack of support for organisations or persons with disabilities and lack of linkages between the formal and informal sectors economy, Mr Cofie said, these challenges had resulted in workers wages and salaries being determined by factors that were external such as inflation rate, increases in the price of fuel, higher utility tariffs and periodic review of prices in line with government fiscal policy management. "This has greatly diminished the relevance of productivity as a central pillar in Ghana's development agenda," he said. He said "Ghanaians aspire to a better life and must be very conscious that our competitors in the global economy work to systematically improve their productivity. We must do likewise." Mr Cofie said, there was the need to shape the mind-sets of Ghanaians and to get every worker to make productivity his or her personal concern. "Ghanaian workers must now accept as a fundamental principle, in consonance with the acceptance of leadership of organised labour that salary increases must be justified by productivity enhancement." Mr Cofie urged the leadership of the media to partner the GEA to wage a massive education in re-orienting the minds of workers and the public in that direction. Mr Ransford Tetteh, president of the GJA, thanked the leadership of the GEA for recognising the importance of the media in contributing to share to improve productivity. He urged the GEA not to events to sensitize workers on productivity issues one-off events, but to draw up sustained programmes that would put the productivity debate on the national agenda at all times. He pledged on behalf of the media to partner the GEA to help educate the people on issues relating to national productivity for a better quality of life for all Ghanaians. Source: Ghanaian Times