A new minimum wage is likely to be announced this afternoon (Tuesday) by the government when ongoing negotiations involving the government, organised labour and employers at the Tripartite Committee level are expected to end.

Representatives of the various parties involved in the discussions are tight-lipped on their expectations with all of them saying “let’s wait and see.”

Kwamina Sekyi, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment told The Ghanaian Times in an interview in Accra that the committee agreed at its last meeting last Wednesday to finalise the negotiations today.

He said that after the technical sub-committee submitted its report to the Tripartite Committee, there was consensus that the various parties be allowed to consult their members and confer with them to arrive at an acceptable compromise.

Although he did not reveal the contents of the report, he was hopeful that the Tripartite Committee, after resumption of negotiations, “would iron out the rough edges” in the report and come out with an acceptable offer to Ghanaians.

“I am optimistic that the committee would come out with a minimum wage that would be acceptable to all the groups considering the level of negotiations that have gone on,” he stressed.

The Tripartite Committee started negotiations after the recent increases in prices of petroleum products. At the preliminary stage of the negotiations, a technical sub-committee was constituted on 22 January to work out the details for the minimum wage. Among other things, it was to consider the impact of the over 90 per cent upward adjustment of petroleum prices on salaries and wages.

The sub-committee submitted its report last Wednesday to allow the various parties to do some consultation with their members before the final ratification by the entire committee.
When the Trades Union Congress (TUC) consulted the Tema District Council of Labour (TDCL), it suggested at least a 69.8 per cent upward adjustment of the minimum wage from ?7,200 to approximately ?12,000. But the TDCL immediately rejected the proposal saying it was inadequate and suggested a 100 per cent upward adjustment to reflect the level of increment in fuel prices and the imminent increase in utility tariffs.
Opposing the proposal, a former Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Austin Gamey, now a labour consultant, cautioned the Tripartite Committee against any attempt to adjust the new minimum wage above 40 per cent. According to him, such a decision would lead the economy into catastrophe.