Government sets new minimum wage

The Ghanaian government announced on Friday a new minimum daily wage, despite continuing disagreement with representatives of workers. The new wage is effective this month, the Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo, said. The Minister told a news conference in the capital Accra, that the new wage of 9,000 cedis or the equivalent of US $1.05 (US $1 = 8,600 cedis) represented an increment of 26 percent over the prevailing wage rates. Senior government officials including the president, vice president, ministers and other executives are however excluded from the wage increment. Representatives of workers, who had been negotiating with the government for a higher wage under the banner of the National Tripartite Committee, criticised the new wage and said they would instead continue negotiations for a 68 percent increment. “Organised labour’s demand for a minimum wage was driven by the high cost of living, accentuated by the steep increase in the price of fuel and the pending rise in utility rates,” the Trade Union Congress said in a statement. The civil servants and teachers associations dismissed the new wage increments. However Osafo-Maafo told reporters: “Much as the government is sensitive to the plight of the workers…increases need to be situated in a macroeconomic framework. In fixing the minimum wage, careful consideration has been given to the business environment of all employers, including government, private, formal and informal sectors especially the small and medium enterprises”. According to the minister, the government was prepared to continue negotiations with the workers but would use the new wage as the reference point during such negotiations.