May Day And The Ghanaian Worker

Added to this conundrum, is the demand by some Unions for financial support ‘cloaked’ in the form of ‘Political Neutrality Allowance.’ It’s been a barrage of attacks from some quarters since the introduction of this new kid on the block in the Labour lexicon. But have those, who are attacking this allowance taken the time to study why that demand? It may look unjustifiable, but looking at current events, ‘anything for the boys’ will do. Apparently, the conditions of living in the country have inexorably assumed distressing dimensions. Ghanaian Public Sector Workers must presently be one angry group of people. The living wage is turning to be a death wage. Four percent and seven percent increment in wages, have indeed been, befuddling. They have been eroded by the high prices of virtually everything on the market. Nothing can therefore melt the rage within, except the payment of an acceptable wage. The dream for a better living wage and a good take home, continue to be a mirage and a dream gone sour worsened by global occurrences. It is also true that the economy has taken a ‘battery’ as a result of problems outside the purview of government.  In whatever way it is viewed, the truth remains that workers incomes are low and the untold hardship has become intolerable. Some experts have even gone the extent of clamouring for price controls by government, if it cannot pay a living wage now, to stop the wanton exploitation of the poor worker, by market queens.  It has become, a weekly, indeed, a daily phenomenon, to see prices of goods shoot up on the market unannounced.  Prices of groceries, beverages, common food items that the average worker survives on, have become an anathema.  For prices of fuel and sachet water, the least said about them, the better.  When transporters decide to hike transport fares, government comes in. Why then does government remain aloof when sachet water producers for instance decide to do same.  AND as if to rub it in, some category of workers in this same ‘Ghana we all live in, take home salaries that others have described as Obscene, forgetting that we all go the same market and buy tomatoes and Onions at the same Price.

Is it therefore surprising that The TUC boss called for a total overhaul of salaries in the public service? It is not for nothing that Some have also advocated a complete scrap of the Single Spine Pay Policy, because instead of rationalizing salaries in the Public sector, it has made more workers worse off.  The government thinks it is not in a better standing to raise salaries because outside events have brought the economy to its knees. There is therefore, need to cover the hole created before any ‘largess’ for the worker. Conversely, the worker finds himself between a rock and a hard place. Nobody knows where the immediate solutions to these problems may come from.  In whatever way one looks at it, things aren’t getting better now, but the worker needs to survive. So something must be done to alleviate the plight of the suffering Ghanaian.

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