Information reaching The Chronicle on Saturday in Sunyani indicates that morale among the staff of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is completely down following revelations about discrepancies in their salary structure.

The huge salary gap, where the category ’A’ workers including all Departmental Heads, Regional Directors and Accountants are receiving as much as GH¢1,600 whilst the other categories in the same line still receive GH¢300, has created some agitation among the workers who are threatening to go on a demonstration against the anomaly.

Some of the troubled staff told The Chronicle on Saturday in Sunyani that the revelations of the salary disparities has seriously demoralized them and is also affecting their productivity.

The workers described the management of GBC as voracious and egocentric, who are not interested in reviving the sinking image of GBC in an area where competition on the media scene has become keen.
According to the bonuses for workers introduced last year were being unfairly disbursed as they have done to the salary itself.

"We have no overtime allowances as stated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of GBC, with the management paying only themselves and leaving us to work under poor conditions", the staff alleged.

They blamed the Workers Union of GBC for been silent on matters concerning the welfare of the majority of the workers, saying the only time the leadership of the union speak is when they have to defend the management and not the workers. The workers further complained about poor working conditions and lack of logistics in the region.

According to them, the poor human relations of the Regional Director, Mr. Victor Appea was compounding the already irksome situation describing the relationship of the Director and the staff as that of "the Colonial master and slave" type of relationship.

They revealed that the Regional Director had introduced some measures, which is causing disaffection to both clients and staff. Some measures like not allowing taxis into the premises for security reasons is a major setback to the revenue generation of the corporation.

According to the staff, sometimes private vehicles are also made to go through some long and unnecessary scrutiny when entering the premises, claiming that the current regional Minister, Mr. Nyamekye Marfo once fell victim to this.

The irate staff continued that the Regional Director wants to enslave the staff, to work without adequate logistics and motivation, adding that the local management’s direction was deterring everybody, both customers and staff from achieving their respective targets.

The Regional Director, Mr. Victor Appea, when contacted, refuted the allegation of being discourteous and autocratic towards the staff, but stated that he was only trying to instil discipline among the workers of the corporation.

He said the security measures instituted was in the right direction, because as Director, he was obliged to protect the facility and its equipment, explaining that people used to intrude into the premises since it had no security checks.

According to Mr. Appea, the staff could not be blamed because they were new to some of the managerial changes being instituted in the corporation, and the need to adopt some strict managerial directions was also because the competition in the broadcasting industry has become very keen.

"I am not an autocratic, but a disciplinarian who always wants the best things to be done, and those few indisciplined staff would always complain, which I’m not troubled about," he stated.

He disclosed that he came to meet only seven permanent staff at the Programs Department, who are still at post, but quickly added that he had laid off three staff members, whose performance were below expectation.

"My brother, I do not want to wash our dirty linen in public, but I think this is the opportunity to bring positive changes to the corporation", Mr. Appea disclosed.

He told The Chronicle on Saturday that he was managing the corporation with an eagle eye, and would not be perturbed about the false agitation from some sections of the staff, who are not comfortable with the current wind of change blowing to uplift the standard of GBC at the region.

Mr. Appea stated that he would be happy to deal with the concerns raised by the staff if they channel them through the Union representatives in the region, instead of them taking their grievances outside.  Chronicle