The leadership of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has served notice that it will not accept any pay rise below the current inflation rate.

According to TUC, this will help cushion workers in the face of rising prices of goods and services.

Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo, the Director of Research at TUC, served this notice in an interview with Odehyeeba Kofi Essuman, host of Accra100.5FM’s morning show, Ghana Yensom, on Accra 100.5 FM, on Tuesday, 2 May 2023.

He stressed that when the inflation rate is high, it pushes real incomes to fall, so, “we will seek something that will cushion the worker”.

“In the last three years, inflation has skyrocketed and people are losing their jobs."

“We will make sure we negotiate for something not below the inflation rate in the country”, he noted, adding: "We will protect workers if inflation continues to be high."

When quizzed about the reasons assigned by the government for the economic woes, he said the Russian-Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic only exposed how badly the economy was being managed by the government.

He called on the government to call for a national conference for the way forward for Ghana’s economy, adding that Ghana can only be developed by Ghanaians and not the people from New York who come with their interest.

He stressed that going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$3-billion bailout is not the way to go.

"We have been to the IMF 17 times and we are still where we are as a nation," he remarked.

The "IMF has not been helpful to Ghana as a nation," he argued.

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