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Minimum wage that cannot take the worker anywhere!
The National Tripartite Committee (NTC) recently announced an increase in the national daily minimum wage to GHc 12.53 which represents a four per cent increment on the 2020 figure of GHc 11.82. The increment followed a conclusion of negotiations on the determination of the National Daily Minimum Wage in respect of 2021 and 2022 at its meeting held on Thursday, June 3, 2021, in Accra.
The determination of the national minimum wage is in accordance with Section 113 (1) (a) of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).
NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
At the end of that meeting, it was also agreed that for the year 2022, the national daily minimum wage would be pegged at GHc 13.53, a seven per cent increment on the 2021 figure.
The reason assigned to the current figures was that the NTC took into account the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant hardships that strongly influenced the percentage increases in the salary adjustments.
“In determining the new rates, the NTC took into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the national economy, cost of living, sustainability of businesses and the desirability of attaining high level of employment,” it stated.The national minimum wage rate for 2021 which is tax exempt took effect from June 4, 2021.
DON’T USE COVID-19 AS AN EXCUSE
The Trades Union Congress (TUC), had early on, asked the government to stop using COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse and review the salaries of the workers upwards to help them deal with the recent economic hardships in the country.
Organised labour argument is that the recent fuel increments, coupled with the skyrocketing prices of goods and services, are taking a toll on the Ghanaian worker. They have pleaded with government to review workers’ salaries, as well as taxes to reduce their financial burden.
Indeed, times are hard and workers are justifiably right in asking for salary increases that will stand the test of time and support them to make ends meet with their families and other dependants. You cannot begrudge them. The workers are, indeed, not happy with the TUC for their stance in the recent salary negotiations, accusing the union of stabbing them at the back.
GLOBAL EMERGENCE OF MINIMUM WAGE
For the benefit of my readers and patrons, it is important to delve a bit into history of how this minimum wage came into being globally, vis- a- vis how some countries have managed to make their workers better using the National Minimum Wage formula.
The minimum wage concept was first introduced in New Zealand in 1984 and the Austrian State of Victoria in 1986. The motivation was to fight poverty among the working class, particularly the segment of the workers that was not covered by collective agreements and was vulnerable to low pay conditions. By close of 2016, about 160 economies of 189, had a minimum wage. Countries with national minimum wage include, United States of America (USA), South Korea, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso among others.
THE WORK OF THE TRIPARTITE COMMITTEE
Over here in Ghana, the annual fixing of the minimum wage lies in the bosom of the Tripartite Committee made up of the government, employer and the worker. The committee is headed by the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare. The committee is established under section 112 of the Labour Law, Act 651 of 2003. Its core mandate is to review and adjust the minimum wage in line with the changes in the economic and social circumstances of the country including changes in the cost of living. This ensures that the minimum wage stays closer to the economic and social realities of the country. The minimum wage covers workers in all sectors of the economy.
It is unfortunate that despite annual adjustment, Ghana’s minimum wage is normally very low wage. The minimum wage has remained around US$ 2.00 a day for the past decade. It is also significant to note that increases in the minimum wage have always been below inflation rate and that has often led to decreases in real minimum wage.
It appears that the national institutions that have the mandate to enforce the minimum wage and other labour legislations are too weak to carry out their duties.
SIGNIFICANCE OF MINIMUM WAGE INTRODUCTION
When the minimum wage was introduced in the country in 1939, the major objective was to fight poverty among the working class. It was to ensure that people working on full time basis, could earn enough to enable them and their families to escape poverty. Thus, minimum wage increases are aimed at motivating workers to raise their effort levels and spur greater investments in human capital as well as boosting labour productivity.
Another major weakness in Ghana’s minimum wage is the lack of enforcement. This has resulted in high level of non-compliance. Enforcement is hampered by the failure of the state to resource the industrial relations institutions that are mandated to enforce the minimum wage and other labour legislations.
REPORTS OF ARTICLE 71 OFFICE HOLDERS EARNING FAT SALARIES
Currently there are allegations that while the average workers are being asked to tighten their belt by receiving as low as six per cent increment in their 2020 salaries for this year, Article 71 office holders who include the President and his Vice, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice and the Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of Parliament, Ministers of State, political appointees and public servants, are paying themselves fat salaries at the blind side of the workers. If that is the case as being peddled on social media, then that is most unfortunate and not healthy for this country.
The Tripartite Committee which sat and arrived at the six per cent increment use the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected the economy greatly as a yardstick for fixing the percentage increase and, therefore, that should be the overriding principle in the determination of the general salaries for this country. Besides, the Executive and ministers of state and other government functionaries are already earning good salaries with other service conditions that go with them. Therefore, giving themselves more salaries is not in the best interest of a country such as Ghana which is facing a lot of challenges with the economy.
FREEZE ON SALARY INCREMENTS FOR EXECUTIVE, OTHERS
The President must give true meaning to his recent announcement that he has put a freeze on salary increments for himself, the Vice President, ministers of state and all other appointees of the Executive as a way of appreciating the plight of Ghanaians in the wake of the negative economic impact of the pandemic.
Indeed, the workers are suffering and the recent four per cent increase in their salaries is nothing good to sustain them, especially when most of them have other dependants and families to cater for. This is the time for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other organised labour unions to team up and fight for the rights of workers. Money being spent aimlessly on unnecessary projects at this point in time needs to be channeled to improve the welfare of workers who are toiling day and night with their sweat to build this nation.
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By: Charles Neequaye
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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BY ROBERT EKOW GRIMMOND-THOMPSON
