The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Employers’ Association, Alex Frimpong, says labour demands will be subject to negotiations by all parties involved in the tripartite committee.

According to him, currently the technical subcommittee of the tripartite committee has been put together to work out the various scenarios taking into consideration different economic indicators to come up with figures that would be presented to the plenary for negotiating the national minimum wage for 2023.

“So once the report is ready, the parties will study it and consult their constituents and the negotiations begin,” he said.

Speaking on PM Express Business Edition, he stated that to address the demands of labour in terms of the national minimum wage, “we may want to look at the needs of workers which is very important, we may also want to look at the economy as a whole, and most importantly the employer’s ability to pay.

“And per the ILO convention on the minimum wage, these are three important factors that must come in to play when you’re discussing a national daily minimum wage.”

Alex Frimpong added that though he appreciates the stance taken by organized labour, “they will be subject to negotiations by the parties and I’m sure we need to ensure that by arriving at a figure it will be able to sustain businesses in the country, it should be able to ensure that employees are also able to make ends meet, and most importantly, the economy will not be hit so hard that it will distort the microeconomic environment.”

“So that is the responsibility of the committee to ensure that all these parties are able to have some equilibrium in their expectations,” he added.