A Deputy Finance Minister-Designate, Abena Osei-Asare has disclosed that the tripartite committee is in the process of negotiating a new minimum wage.

“There’s a meeting of the tripartite committee today to conclude on the minimum wage, I know once they conclude the discussions, the base pay will also be determined.”

The tripartite committee is made up of representatives of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, five representatives of employers and five other representatives from Organized Labour.

The Deputy Finance Minister-Designate made this disclosure while taking her turn before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, June 3, 2021.

“As we speak Mr Chairman, we have commissioned the technical committee, they have come out with their report and government has met the tripartite committee - the unions, employers and government. They have met and I believe they are almost at the near end of wage negotiations,” she said.

According to her, a minimum wage was not agreed for implementation in 2020 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant restrictions and uncertainties.

She added that, “you’ll recall that we had to come to Parliament to amend the targets that we had set for 2020. There was so much uncertainty in 2020 coupled with the effects of the pandemic. Mr Chairman, we could not conclude negotiations in 2020 for 2021.”

Abena Osei-Asare was, however, hopeful that a new minimum wage rate will be agreed in the shortest possible time to help employees adjust to the increasing cost of living in the country as Ghana slowly recovers from the pandemic.

In a response to a question posed by Leader of the National Democratic Congress’ Caucus in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, concerning the country's continued use of minimum wage instead of decent wage as pertains in other countries, she said, "it’s a conversation we should all have. That as much as possible, we together can decide to increase productivity. Once we increase productivity, I believe that the wages that we earn, or the wages that we pay our people, will be not just a living wage, but will be a wage that will be commensurate with the work we do.”

Discussions surrounding the minimum wage rate come at a time when the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has announced a 13% increment in transport fares, which would definitely affect the prices of goods and services in the country.