Freezing public sector wages not “workable”

Mr Elvis S. Van-Lare, Volta Regional Secretary of the Ghana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) Monday said freezing salary of public sector workers was not “workable.”

He said this was because prices went up by 100 per cent last year with workers receiving only 20 per cent increment in that year, with many workers yet to receive arrears of the 20 per cent increment.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Van-Lare, said public sector workers in Ghana were the least paid in the sub-region and could therefore not be denied salary increment while cost of living kept rising.

He said it was not true that public sector wages threw the economy overboard in 2013 and rather blamed mismanagement of the economy and huge pay rise and allowances for Article 71 office holders. Mr Van-Lare said stakeholders would soon meet government to demand arrears from 2013 and increment for 2014.

He called for stringent economic policies such as making security services and government appointees pay for the utilities they used. Mr Martin Lucky Kumeko, a teacher said freezing salaries would aggravate criminal activities because parents could not cope with the rising demands on them by dependants, given their meager salaries against high food prices and utility bills.

Mr Charles Ekornunye Ansah, a civil servant said such a policy would affect the purchasing power of workers, who paid so much for rent, transportation, school fees and food, which were constantly on the rise. A secretary, at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council, who sought annoyingly, said freeze on salaries could push workers into illegal activities.