Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah
THE TRADES Union Congress (TUC) has asked employers to adjust the salaries of their employees to reflect the rising inflation in the country’s economy.
According to the TUC, employees are now the worst-hit by the current economic crisis as inflation has risen to 19.4 percent inflation from 9 percent in July last year.
“The situation is very bad. Prices of goods and services are going up, and so, if salaries are not adjusted to reflect these phenomena, workers will continue to struggle,” said TUC’s Secretary General, Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah.
He gave the recommendation at the pre-May Day forum held in Accra on the theme: ‘Protecting Jobs And Incomes In The Era Of The COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.’
He called on employers to be flexible with their policy of fixing workers salary at the start of the year indicating that if salary is determined in January, and inflation increases within the course of the year without a corresponding adjustment, that would be unfair to the employee.
Dr. Baah said his outfit has already begun conversations with employers on how to find lasting solutions to the predicaments faced by workers.
He, however, emphasised that if dialogue fails to yield the needed results, they will not hesitate to hit the streets, given the magnitude of the crisis.
“We abide by dialogue. We hardly want to strike because it is a very difficult thing to do – it is like war. And before we declare war on the employer, we have to make sure we have good reason and this time, we have a good reason.
“Therefore, we caution that the employers must listen to us because, the workers of this country are suffering too much, and we should not allow it to continue,” he said.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri