Deputy Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Joshua Ansah, says government’s excuse about the lack of financial resources to meet the demands of workers in the country will not be tolerated by the Union in the ongoing wage negotiation.

According to him, government has over the years avoided meeting its financial obligations to the labour force by claiming there is not enough money to meet the demands of workers.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Joshua Ansah, noted that this time organised labour will not pander to the government’s excuses and would thus not back down from their demands as they have done in the past.

“As for the ability to pay, we started hearing it from the day Adam was born. Anytime there is negotiation between us and government or employers, that is the word, that is the slogan, that is the song they sing, ‘ability to pay’. And that ability to pay has been in existence from Adam up till today.

“I don’t think that is a real excuse that can whither us away from demanding what we’re demanding. Ability to pay, but you can see that after they have given us the peanuts people go out there and you see them not living lives of ability to pay people,” he said.

He said while the larger section of public sector workers have had to bear the harsh economic brunt of low wages amidst an ailing economy, those in the upper echelons of government have largely been cushioned from the same situation.

According to him, Organised Labour is, therefore, only demanding for same respite in the form of salary increments to meet prevailing economic demands.

“Last year and last two years, the same stories were told, ‘things are hard’, ‘the economic situation is bad’, ‘covid’ and this and that and so on and so forth. Workers had seven and four percent forced down our throats. After that what happened to the other privileged people in the society? So we think that that is not the way to go,” he said.

“Look, the capital and labour are together, but it’s like people pay attention to capital more than labour. You can bring all the machinery in the world to this country but without the talent of the labour turning the machinery you can never have production.

“So why is it that when we produce the excess profit that we are only demanding something small out of it employers and government tells us that there is no money, the economy is bad and this and that. I think we have heard it and it’s enough for us. We are no longer going to listen to that. Let us all feel the heat, let us all share what is there,” he added.

His comment follows Organised Labour proposing a 60 percent increment in base pay for the year 2023 as they begin negotiations with the government.

In a letter signed by TUC General Secretary, Dr. Yaw Baah and Isaac Bampoe Addo, Chairman of the Forum of Public Sector Workers, Organised Labour cited the rising inflation and the 15% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) granted on the National Daily Minimum Wage as grounds for their proposal.

According to Organised Labour, a huge gap has been created between the National Daily Minimum Wage and the Base Pay as a result of accepting COLA instead of normal salary increase and granting increases in the National Daily Minimum Wage.

This has resulted in the 2022 daily Base Pay on the 2022 Single Spine Salary Structure being 16.26% below the 2022 daily minimum wage.

“In order to close the gap and restore the 10% point with respect to the National Daily Minimum Wage (NDMW), the daily Base Pay for 2023 should be GH¢l4.88 plus 10% which is GH¢16.37,” Organised Labour said.

They, therefore, want the annual Base Pay on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) for 2023 to be increased to GH¢5,303.23 from the current GH¢3,672.84.