Workers call adjustment of salaries to reflect minimum wage

Wa, April 22, GNA - Workers in the Wa Municipality have appealed to the government to adjust their salaries to reflect the new minimum wage.

The workers made the appeal at a Wa Municipal Council of Labour meeting held on Wednesday.

The workers said traders after listening to the announcement of the increase in the daily minimum wage also increased the prices of their commodities thereby putting workers through untold hardships. The workers suggested that if government could not pay workers based on the new minimum wage one month after the announcement, then it ought to delay the announcement till negotiations had been concluded and agreed upon.

This, they said, would prevent traders from increasing prices of commodities to create hardships for workers. The National Tripartite Committee after a meeting held on February 2, increased the minimum wage from GH¢3.11p to GH¢3.73p after negotiations with the leadership of the various Labour Unions. The new minimum wage took effect February 15, 2011 but had still not been implemented.

Mr Adams Sandu, the Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), appealed to workers in both the private and public sectors who were being paid below the minimum wage to report to the TUC to have the matter addressed.

The workers called on the Unions to move from the use of TV sets to award workers on the May Day celebration to fridges or motor bikes in order to add more value to the occasion and to boost the confidence of the workers.