Increase salaries as you increase taxes – TUC

• Posted on January 9, 2014January 9, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said that it would oppose any increment in salaries that does not match the many increases in taxes and utility tariffs. 

According to the Secretary General of the TUC Kofi Asamoah it will be hypocritical for the government to expect them to be silent on such developments. 

Delivering a solidarity message at the 4th quadrennial conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, Mr Asamoah cautioned the government not to consider a wage freeze since organized labour will resist it. 

He made references to the increases in utility prices this year amongst other things to justify the stance of organized labour.

“Government has announced increases in several taxes and statutory fees, the 2014 budget proposes to increase the base pay by a small percentage; and indeed with all these increases anybody talking about wage freeze should review his or her notes,’’ he said.

Mr Asaomaoh also bemoaned government’s pronouncements which seek to blame public sector workers for the challenges the nation is facing economically. 

He called for cleaning of the wage bill as a panacea for solving the problem of wage bill increases.

“The single spine pay policy and public sector workers, including teachers became the subject of 
Incessant attacks by government officials who continue to blame workers for all that have gone wrong with the finance of this country.’’

The TUC boss said organized labour is convinced that public sector salary administration, including the management of the wage is inefficient and “needs urgent attention to weed out all ghost names and other undesirable elements in the wage bill’’.


By: Evans Effah