March 11, 2016

Workers’ welfare versus the sinking economy
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot

Accra, May 4, Ghanadot - Labour unions in thousands of countries around the world are using the traditional May Day marches to protest the handling of the current global economic crisis.

The crisis has led to loss of jobs, close down of key companies and factories in the advance world, and is causing the developing countries to face up to the reality of a severe down turn in their economies.

At the recent workers day celebrations, the central theme that went through all the marches and protests was the need for government to take workers’ welfare seriously at a time when the global economy is hard hit.

The thinking from some Ghanaian is that although workers have right to good working conditions and other good welfare programmes, they would have to exercise restraint now that the economy is under duress.

In Ghana, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other cohort labour organizations were not left out of the celebrations.

The Ghanaian workers urged the government as a matter of urgency to expedite action on the implementation of the country’s long-awaited Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

They also called for the re-introduction of the end-service benefits for all workers in the country.

The Secretary-General of TUC, Mr. Kofi Asamoah further asked the government to implement the new pension scheme set up under the new National Pension Law 2008.

Amazingly, many Ghanaians spend about 70% of their lives working but received “take-home pay that cannot take them home”, while the principle of equal treatment for equal opportunities for all is regularly violated, with women being the greatest victims.

Even at the Independence Square, where President John Evans Atta Mills and his Vice John Dramani Mahama joined the celebrations, awards given went to the men mostly, leaving out the women.

In reality women workers do more work than their men counterparts but men use their domineering power to cheat them of the recognition.  The May Day awards, some say, was a case in point.

It is therefore incumbent on the government to implement the "SSSS" scheme and to integrate the principle of equal pay for equal work in both the pubic and sectors of the Ghanaian economy, the TUC boss was reported to have said.

The TUC boss also added that “the patience of public sector workers is almost exhausted” after waiting for too long for the implementation of the scheme.

Indeed, the recent increase in the minimum wage is largely nominal if account is taken of the rate of depreciation of the country’s cedi against the major currencies such as US Dollar and Pound Sterling.

Our beloved country is likely to experience a significant fall in real wages this year. This has serious implications for the decent work agenda that Ghanaians are yearning for.

Commenting on the current wages and salaries of the Ghanaian workers, President Mills assured them that the government was providing adequate funds and logistics to Ghana’s Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to execute its mandate in anticipation of the implementation of the "SSSS" structure.

“Let me assure you that the single spine pay policy remains high on our agenda”, he added.

Also, responding to demands for more job opportunities by the Ghanaian workers, the president indicated that his government’s social contract with Ghanaians was built on the firm belief that the people had a right to decent living and well paid jobs, adding “we intend to promote and create employment avenues in all sectors of the country”.

President Mills assured the gathering that government was committed to the creation of jobs in the economic and productive sectors such as agriculture, trade and industry and tourism.

Ghanadot.