The 50% raise in wages being demanded by Organised Labour will just not happen, Employment and Labour Relations Minister Haruna Iddrisu has said.

“We need to be able to offset the outstanding legacy debt of almost GHS4.5 billion, so, a wage increase by 50 percent is not just difficult, but impossible,” Mr Iddrisu told Journalists.

“We would engage with Labour and see how we can reach them, in terms of some cushioning, and we have been meeting since they raised the red flags. We’ll continue to meet on Tuesday to look at it, particularly the PURC’s upward adjustment adjustments,” he added.

Organised Labour recently said the government must increase wages of public sector workers by at least 50%, to cushion them from the burden of the tariff increases and the introduction of taxes. Chairman of the Tema District Council of Labour, Wilson Agana, said: “We have to go back to the table and force for a salary increase for all workers. At least, we have to go and fight for a salary increase of at least 50% else we cannot survive.”

“Before we accept the increases, then it means we must have salary raises for all workers. On Tuesday we will come out with our plans to press home our demands,” Mr Agana told Citi FM in an interview on Wednesday, January 6, 2016.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced new tariffs late last year: 59.2 per cent and 67.2 percent for electricity and water, respectively.

A fuel price increase of 27 percent also came into effect on Monday, January 4, 2016, after the passage of an Energy Sector Levy Bill by Parliament in December 2015.

There has been public outcry over the increases in tariffs and prices of petroleum products. A meeting held Tuesday by Organised Labour, the Ghana Employers Association (GEA,) and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), on one hand, and government, on the other hand, ended in a deadlock.

Mr Agana complained that the salaries of workers are inadequate considering the numerous utility tariff increases and said the union will do everything possible to address the situation in a meeting scheduled for next week.