Organised labour demands 20% salary increment

Organised labour is urging the government to increase its minimum wage and base pay to not less than 20% from the 6% increment in 2021.

The deputy general secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Kenneth Koomson said, “a demand of 20% minimum wage and a base pay adjustment to 20% is scientific, it cannot be proven; it is not a subjective figure. This is why we are saying it should be 20% and nothing else.”

He added that “it is feasible because negotiations are scientifically determined and when you look at the imposition of taxes, cost of petroleum prices, cost of living, utility cost, and all of these place a very serious burden on the ordinary worker.

“There couldn’t be any adjustment that will compensate and even attempt to restore anything above 20%. If we do less than 20%, the worker has been short-changed, he’ll not be able to address the challenges that confront us as workers every now and then and that’ll be a betrayal.”

Agreement

In July 2021, after agitations for pay increment, the government announced a 4% increase in the base pay for public sector workers.

That followed negotiations by the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC) which was made up of the government, organised labour and employers.

While agreeing on the 4% increment, the committee at that negotiation also agreed to a further seven per cent increment in 2022.

Organised labour had proposed a 15% rise for 2021 and 2022, and tabled 10% as its final proposal.

However, the government and employers insisted they could only offer 4 and 6% respectively as the impact of COVID-19 had made it impossible to go beyond the figures proposed.

At the 2021 negotiation, Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Baffour Awuah who led the government’s team, said an attempt to get more than its tabled offer, could force it to retrench workers, a situation the government wanted to avoid.