Govt’s to Blame for Poor Wages – Koomson

Abraham Koomson, Secretary General for Ghana Federation of Labour, has said that bad government policies are to blame for the poor remuneration of some workers in the country.

According to a report by the Daily Graphic on Tuesday, 31 July, wages in the informal sector vary from as low as GHS150 to about GHS450 a month

The minimum wage was increased to GHS9.68 in July 2017 and further increased on 26 July 2018 to GHS10.65, representing a 10 per cent upward adjustment.

Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko-Brobby, told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra 100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom on Tuesday, 31 July that: “This is bad and very soon government will come after employers paying their workers below the minimum wage.”

He added: “I recently noticed that some people are even paid as low as GHS100 a month and that is very bad.”

But reacting to the deputy minister’s comments on the same show, Mr Koomson said: “The problems is not about the individual employer or the business owner, it is the policies of the government that must be properly shaped to deal with the bottlenecks affecting businesses in Ghana.

“We are suffering because of bad economic policies by the government. You sit in your shop the whole day and make no sales, so, how do you pay the shop attendants and other people you employ?”

He added: “We need good policies to grow businesses in Ghana so they can also pay their workers well.”