By Iddi Yire
Accra, May 01, GNA – The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has appealed to the Government for a total reset of the pay regime to reflect current economic conditions in the country.
This is because the Ghanaian worker continues to bear the burden of the recent economic crisis, including the rising cost of living, inflationary shocks, and declining real incomes.
Mr. Joshua Ansah, the Secretary-General of the TUC, noted that for many households, the gap between incomes and basic survival needs had become wider; but even before the current economic crisis, they had all known about the very low wages and salaries and poor working conditions in Ghana.
The Secretary-General said this year’s May Day Celebration theme, “Resetting Pay and Working Conditions in Ghana – The Role of Stakeholders,” speaks directly to the critical moment they face as a nation and as workers.
He said it was a call for transformation — not only in how “we value labour, but also in how they shape the future of work, wages, and welfare of the Ghanaian worker.
“Our minimum wage (GHS19.97) is only $1.28 for eight hours of work. A significant proportion of the workforce is paid below this amount.”
“The minimum pay on the Single Spine Salary Structure is only GHS741 or $47.51 per month. Compared to the international poverty line of $58, both minimum wage earners and those who earn the base pay are languishing in poverty,” Mr. Ansah noted, adding that compared to the prevailing cost of living, Ghanaian workers and their families are struggling to survive.
Mr. Ansah said the wage landscape in Ghana was also characterized by very large inequities that were hard to explain or justify.
He underscored that they had become aware of the huge gap in pay and benefits between the political class grouped under Article 71 and the rest of public sector workers subsisting on the Single Spine Salary Structure.
He said even more obscene was the pay differential between the State-Owned Enterprises and parastatals on one hand and the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
He said it was a scandal that some Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of state entities paid from public funds had rent allowances that were three times more than the salaries of their highest paid public servants on the Single Spine Salary Structure.
He reiterated that it was obvious that Ghanaian workers could not reset with this low pay levels.
“We cannot reset amid this high level of pay disparities. It is energy-sapping and demotivating to say the least. Mr. President, we demand a total reset of the pay regime in Ghana,” he said.
He noted that the current framework for wage determination was no longer fit for purpose, and it does not sufficiently reflect the prevailing cost of living and basic needs of workers and their families.
“We demand a fair and transparent wage setting mechanism anchored on credible economic indicators — including food inflation, housing, transportation, healthcare, and education among others,” Mr. Ansah stressed.
“We must replace the current minimum wage with a living wage that considers the needs of workers and their families as well as productivity concerns of employers.”
He said workers and their families must live in dignity and security; declaring that that was the only way they could be reasonably expected to make contribution to the resetting agenda.
He called on the President to bequeath the nation a living wage structure, emphasising that, “Mr. President, it must be said that in the four years that you were President from 2025 to 2029, Ghana adopted a living wage; and in that same period as part of the broader resetting agenda, the review of the Single Spine Pay Policy was completed, Article 71 was abolished and pay in the public sector was harmonized.”
He said that, in the next four years under President Mahama’s leadership, they would together install a Broad-Banded Integrated Pay Structure to accommodate all public sector jobholders.
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