Give workers dignified pension by paying decent salaries

The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged the government to increase the salaries and wages of workers to enable them to live a more dignified life after retirement.

It said the generally low wages paid to majority of the country’s workers was at the heart of pension pay challenge and the destitution of pensioners.

“We believe that the Ghanaian worker needs a 100 per cent pay rise to meet their individual and family needs and live a more dignified life after retirement,” the TUC stated.

The Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, Mr Julius Ansah, made the call at a seminar to commemorate this year’s World Day for Decent Work in Accra yesterday.

It was on the theme: “Decent work, decent wages.”

The event brought together workers, resource persons in the academia and industry to discuss how best to ensure decent work and a living wage for tripartite consideration.

‘Put people first

Mr Ansah said the idea of decent work summed up the aspirations of people in their working lives to ensure that they had opportunities for work that was productive and delivered a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families.

That, he said, would ensure better prospects for personal development and social integration, the freedom to express their concerns and organise and participate in decisions that affected their lives.

“We at the TUC believe that decent work must be at the centre of government actions to bring back economic growth and build a new global economy that puts people first,” he said.

Mr Ansah said the sharp contrast and yawning gap between the wages of chief executive officers (CEOs) and the ordinary wage worker in most organisations was worrying.

He recalled that in 2005, the Tripartite Committee agreed to move from a minimum wage to a living wage and expressed the hope that steps would be taken to ratify the International Labour Organisation convention 131, to ensure better working conditions for all workers.

Decent opportunities

The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Bright Wereko-Brobby, for his part, said the government, through the Ministry of Finance, would stabilise the cedi to enable businesses to take advantage and get more money to pay better wages to workers.

“Government also intends to keep interest rate down so that businesses can borrow and employ more people and pay decent wages,” he said.

He announced that the government, through a partnership with the European Union, would revamp the public employment sector to ensure the availability of decent work opportunities.

“The project, named Ghana Employment and Social Protection Programme, will also address issues of labour protection, skills and business development challenges in Ghana,” he added.

Fix microeconomic structures

The Director of Policy of the Ghana Employers Association, Mr Kingsley Amuah, said his outfit had over the years engaged the TUC and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to ensure improved working conditions for the Ghanaian worker.

He said the state of the economy called for the creation of improved working conditions for all workers, contrary to the radicalised era where only a few enjoyed.”

“We believe that people should participate in decisions that affect them to ensure the protection of equal treatment for men and women,” he added.

He called on the government to fix the microeconomic structures to ensure a stable interest rate, exchange rate, as well as low cost of borrowing to help businesses thrive and employ more people.