Workers want minimum wage determined before Friday’s budget

Members of the Public Services Workers’ Union (PSWU) have called on government to ensure that the 2021 minimum wage and base pay are agreed upon before the budget statement is read in Parliament on Friday, March 12.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, will be reading government’s financial policy statement for the year on Friday.

But the National Executive Council (NEC) of PSWU are worried the National Tripartite Committee is yet to agree on a minimum wage for workers.

It also expressed concern that the Public Service Joint Negotiating Committee (PSJNC) is yet to agree on a base pay for 2021.

At a NEC meeting held in Kumasi on Thursday, March 4, the public service workers demanded that the salary component of the budget statement is negotiated and concluded by PSJNC before the presentation on Friday.

It also wants PSJNC to convene a meeting immediately to determine the base pay.

The workers are also demanding “enhanced base pay for the year 2021 relative to previous trends”.

“Further hope that the Government of Ghana, being the major employer would expedite action on these matters before the presentation of the National Budget Statement in order to maintain the relative harmonious industrial atmosphere in the country,” a resolution jointly signed by PSWU National Chairman Ken T. Koduah and General Secretary Bernard Adjei warned.