some female construction labourers
The lowest wage a worker in the country should be entitled to after carrying out any piece of work should not be less than GH¢5.24, a communiqué by the National Tripartite Committee has declared.
The country’s minimum wage has been raised by 17 percent from its previous amount of GH¢4.48.
The communiqué, which was issued in Accra yesterday and jointly signed by Nii Armah Ashietey, Minister of Employment & Labour Relations, on behalf of government, Alex Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Employers Association, and Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), noted that the new computation takes effect from today, May 1, 2013.
It directed that “Any establishment, institution or organisation whose daily minimum is below the new national daily minimum wage should adjust its wages upward accordingly,” adding that “the National Tripartite Committee recommends that the National Daily Minimum Wage should be tax exempt.”
The committee concluded consultations on the 2013 national daily minimum wage at its meeting held yesterday.
Initially, government and the other negotiating parties had disagreements on what percentage the wage should be pegged at.
At a point, it insisted that it would not go beyond a 15 percent increment over last year’s amount of GH¢4.48, but organised labour disagreed, and called for a better amount. Organized labour earlier on had proposed a 15.2 percent increase, which would have translated into GH¢5.16.
Employers, on the other hand, also had considered an increment that will not exceed the 9 percent inflation figure projected for 2013.
Since the beginning of this year, five labour groups have embarked on strikes demanding an increment in their salaries according to the grading structure proffered by the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which summarily endorsed equal qualification for equal pay otherwise referred to as pay equity.
These groups include the Ghana Medical Association, National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Teachers & Educational Workers’ Union, UTAG and lately pharmacists who declared a total strike action until their demands are met.
Dr Joe Abbey of CEPA, a renowned economist has advised that “what is good for the goose, is equally good for the gander.”
But Government has sought to beat down the demands of the labour groups with an excuse that its coffers are empty.
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