The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has endorsed calls from the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) for the government to boost public sector employees' pay immediately or risk a series of strikes.
In response to the statement by Dr Yaw Baah, TUC Secretary-General, to embark on industrial action, Mr Abraham Koomson, GFL Secretary-General, announced this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema on Monday.
According to the TUC, if the government does not boost pay as quickly as possible, the trade union group is prepared to launch a series of unprecedented industrial measures in the country. The TUC also argued that employers should link workers' wages to inflation, warning the government from invoking the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict to justify salary freezes.
"If the government does not modify its indifferent attitude toward workers' lamentations," Mr Koomson added, "the Ghana Federation of Labour will back such an action."
Dr Baah's public statement on the necessity for the government to address employees' poor working conditions as a result of the high cost of living, he noted, sent signals to the unions' collective commitment to take on the authorities aggressively.
Meetings including the Labour Centres, which include the TUC, CLOGSAG, and GFL, affiliate unions, and independent unions and organisations, he stated. Following the review, the GFL Secretary-General decided to formally implement institutions to address larger challenges affecting Ghanaian workers.
He stated that a technical group will be formed soon to finalize preparations for the formation of structured organized labor.
In the meanwhile, the National Tripartite Committee's technical sub-committee is working on recommendations for the national daily minimum wage and public sector base pay, according to Mr Koomson.