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Expert to government: Revisit living wage talks to avert labour unrest

The general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Dr Yaw Baah last week warned that the union will embark on a series of protests if the government fails to review salaries upward

A labour consultant, Yiadom Boakye Ansah, has suggested to the government to revisit the discussion on implementation of living wage to avert labour unrest in Ghana.

A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs.

His call comes after the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Dr Yaw Baah warned that the  union will embark on a series of protests if the government fails to review salaries upward soon.

“Employers should index our pay to the inflation because the employer change the prices of their goods so the inflation rate does not affect them the way it is affecting us therefore we should get our salaries indexed.

“We will negotiate effectively this year and that one, I want to assure you that I will lead that negotiation,” he assured. “We will continue to talk, we will continue to negotiate but if the dialogue fails we are going to embark on an industrial action that has never happened in this country before.”

Averting unrest

Touching on the issue on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (25 April), Ansah called on the government to act swiftly to avert unrest on the labour front.

“…If you look at it now, it’s about a week away from May Day celebration, and if you are a labour leader and you have all these issues under your sleeves, you won’t just sit down and wait for the anger of your members when you gather them at the Independence Square for May Day parade.

“So justifiably, the leadership will have to present a situation that will give them some sort of feelings and sympathy from their membership. So, I am not surprised that this call is coming at this time.”

“However, as a labour person, what I think has opened up is the discussion of implementation of the living wage at this time because if we don’t do that, and unfortunately the leadership is not able to hold up and stem any storm that could come up, we could have a backlash that will be very difficult to fight,” Ansah said.

Listen to Yiadom Boakye Ansah in the attached audio below:

 

Fred Dzakpata

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