Cease fire on wage bill debate - Labour Consultant

Labour Consultant, Austin Gamey is calling for ceasefire between government and the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) over President John Mahama’s comments that the 60.9 percent of the nation’s resources are spent on the huge public wage bill.

President Mahama in his first State of the Nation address to Parliament on Thursday bemoaned the huge public sector wage bill which he said was crippling the economy.

The TUC in a sharp rebuttal rejected the claims and asked government to disclose full details of all persons on government pay roll.

Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Gamey said the two parties must come together to find a lasting solution to the problem.

“First of all, what the president said is true and what the TUC Secretary General is saying is also true but we have to deposit it properly into best practices. The issue here is that it’s a fact that the public sector wage has quadrupled…and nobody can be happy with that.

“Whether the people on the public wage are Article 71 or not article 71; that is immaterial because they are all part of the public wage bill so the important thing is how do we address this kind of gap that has been created,” Mr Gamey said.