A group known as the Coalition Against TUC and Organised Labour in Favour of Ghanaian Workers, has slammed leadership of the Trades Union Congress, TUC, for agreeing to an increase of public sector salaries by only 4% this year, and 7% in 2022.
According to the group, the leadership of TUC, which is supposed to seek the interest of Ghanaian workers, has instead become a mouthpiece for the government.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, the Executive Secretary of the group, Azubila Emmanuel Abdul-Salam, said “we have realised that our leaders are not serving our interests. They were unable to promote our course at the tripartite committee meeting. They were there to represent themselves and not the members that contribute dues to them.”
“We are unsatisfied with the work of our leaders. No member of TUC or Organised Labour has ever set eyes on the position paper that was presented at the meeting, which resulted in the conclusion of our base pay. This makes us believe that there was no negotiation in the first place. It was an imposition, and our leaders compromised.”
They want their leaders to go back to the negotiation table.
“Our Secretary-General went to the negotiation table without consulting the members of the union. Neither did they come to us to brief us on the outcome of the meeting. All that we saw was an imposition,” he bemoaned.
“Our leaders owe us that duty to consult us on what we want before meeting with the government. Fine, you have gone to negotiate, and your members are saying your decision to accept the 4% increment does not represent our interest, so go back. Why is this so difficult for you to do?”he quizzed.
The aggrieved public sector workers are against the 4% and 7% base pay increase proposed by the government for public sector workers for 2021 and 2022 respectively.
In addition, the national minimum wage was increased by 6 percent for 2021 and 8 percent for 2022.
They want public sector salaries to be increased by 25% instead.
Some of the aggrieved workers embarked on a demonstration on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, to drum home their demands.
