Calls on government to enforce minimum wage

Koforidua, April 07, GNA- The Trades Union Congress (TUC), has called on government to enforce the minimum wage act, to ensure that employers did not pay workers below the stipulated wage. The TUC believed that the reluctance of employers to pay the minimum wage was not because they could not afford, it but rather due to the fact that government was not enforcing the act to the letter. Dr Yaw Baah, Director of Research of the TUC, who made the call during a forum in Koforidua on Monday, expressed worry that many workers, especially in the district assemblies were paid far below the minimum wage.

"It is appalling to note that the minimum wage, which is only GH¢67.5 per month is not being paid by employers, especially those in the government sector with the district assemblies as the worse defaulters" he lamented. Dr Baah said it was not enough announcing increment in minimum wage without monitoring to ensure that employers adhered to it and urged government to as a matter of urgency see to it that workers had what was due them. According to Dr Baah after series of meetings with union members in most of the regions, it came to light that most of the assembly workers and those in the tourism industry were not paying the minimum wage and gave the assurance that the TUC would take up the issue to correct the anomaly.

Touching on the public sector salary reforms, he noted that about 23 percent of public workers in Ghana lived below the poverty line and the least paid in Africa except the Zambia. In that direction, Dr Baah disclosed that government, TUC and the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) had agreed on a 'living wage' to make life comfortable for Ghanaian workers. He explained that the new living wage policy would consider four persons including a spouse and two kids in the payment of salary and urged union workers to be committed to their work while the TUC pushed the government for the well -being of Ghanaian workers. The forum is part of regional interaction with members of the TUC to solicit their inputs towards the annual congress to be held in August.