General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Thomas Musah has said that after managing to secure the meagre 4 per cent salary increment in 2021 for workers, leadership of labour unions have gained the nickname “4 per cent”.
He says their members no longer call them by their real names because they were unhappy with the margin of increment they got.
“We came under serious pressure for these two years, even still wherever we go, we are referred to as 4 per cent, our name now is 4 per cent. Our members don’t call us our real names again, when they see us they call us 4 per cent, that is our Sir name now,” he told TV3 in interview.
Mr Musah indicated that times are hard for Ghanaian workers hence, the need for government to put smiles on their faces by increasing their salaries.
“Times are hard for workers, I am telling you, and this is the time government will also have to demonstrate to workers that the sacrifices that organized labour made, the past two years, this is the time that the government can put some smile on the faces of workers,” he said.
The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor Awuah, earlier revealed that the government will this year, increase the 4% salary increment for public sector workers to 7 per cent.
“We had to negotiate with the leadership of organised labour and in the process we had to agree that we also had to be modest in our request on the national kitty.
“That is how we ended at the 4%. Mr President, the beautiful thing is that we are moving on and we had agreed that coming into this current year the 4 per cent will no longer exist and that we are going to give lecturers a 7 per cent increment,” he said while speaking at the the 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Kumasi on Tuesday January 4, an event that was attended by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The government had earlier last year, increased salary by 4 per cent, a decision that was heavily opposed by labour unions including GNAT.
The unions were calling for a higher percentage increment.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana