Gov't offers 8,700 cedis minimum wage

Tripartite Committee urged to accept TUC demands
Government has made a firm offer of 8,700 cedis as the daily minimum wage to the Tripartite Committee, an increase of about 22 per cent from the current minimum wage of 7,150 cedis.

A source close to the Tripartite Committee told reporters in Accra on Tuesday that the Ghana Employers' Association had agreed to pay 8,800 cedis while the Trades Union Congress (TUC) agreed to 10,750 cedis although it agitated for 68 per cent increase.

The source denied a publication in a newspaper on Tuesday that "the government did not put forward any figure" at the Committee's meeting held on Monday, February 17.
"The government's offer is more than a dollar and it is useful to recollect that the minimum wage was barely over 60 cents when the government took over power.

"This is the first time in recent years that the government has produced something that has broken the one dollar psychological barrier."

The source said the minimum wage was the legal benchmark below which people in employment could not be paid.

The problem had been that those who negotiated on behalf of labour were in the higher income category and anytime the increase was applied across board it widened the gap between those in the high-income category and those in the low-income category.

The source explained that government's strategy was not to give a universal or an increase across board because any increase across board tended to widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

The source said government's strategy was to have a three-tier approach, which envisaged that those in the lower income category would have the maximum upward adjustment while those in the highest level would have the lowest upward adjustment in order to bridge the gap between the lowest and highest paid.

"The government has already indicated that as a sign to show its sensitivity to the vulnerable in society who were adversely affected by the recent increases in petroleum products prices, government officials would not enjoy any benefit from the upward adjustment," the source said.

Tripartite Committee urged to accept TUC demands

Mr Robert Asekabta, Upper West Region Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), on Tuesday appealed to the Tripartite Committee to approve the demands of organised labour to avert any acrimonious relationship between workers and employers.
He said before the increase in prices of petroleum products by over 90 per cent the average Ghanaian could not afford school fees, health service bills, decent food and accommodation.
''Therefore, the 68 per cent increase in the minimum wage being demanded by the TUC was justified,'' Mr Asekabta said.
He was addressing the fourth quadrennial Upper West Regional Delegates' Conference of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the TUC at Wa.
"The fire that has been started in the coast is definitely sweeping across the country and our region is no exception," he cautioned employers.
The two-day meeting would deliberate on the service conditions of members of TEWU, the relationship between the Union and the Ghana Education Service, elect officers for the next four years and come out with a resolution.
Mr Asebtaka said the Regional Council of Labour had not abandoned its decision taken on November 11 last year to demonstrate against private participation in the production and distribution of water.
Mr Mohammed Seidu Bogobiri, Deputy-General Secretary of TEWU, said the Union was not only agitating for an increase in the minimum wage but for an improvement in the general working conditions of workers.
Mr Bogobiri said the non-refund of medical bills of GES staff which has been pegged at 25,000 cedis per staff per year, non-payment of responsibility and overtime allowances for the same group of workers were some of the difficulties confronting the union.
He advised members of the Union to sacrifice their time and money to acquire computer skills if they were not to be declared redundant in the future.