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Minimum wage is not enough – ICU boss

The General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Solomon Kotei, said the minimum wage was insufficient for someone to live on daily.

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Speaking on Accra-based Onua FM, he said the minimum wage was insufficient for someone to live on daily.

“Minimum wage is just the level below which no employer should pay any employee, and so minimum wage is not a living wage but a survival wage.”

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“Just imagine you have a child and you decide to give the child GHC 2 every morning to take to school, you would be left with Gh7.68. And you also decide to feed on only GHC 2 a day, totalling GHC 4 a day, the remaining GHC 3 cannot pay for your utility bills and rent,” he added.

His comments follow the announcement by the tripartite committee that the minimum wage has been increased by 10%, from the current Gh8.80 to GH9.68. This takes effect from January 1, 2018.

However, the Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wereko Brobbey, said the tripartite committee took into consideration the inflation rate amongst other things.

He added that “this is the first time a minimum wage has been agreed upon ahead of time, and this would reflect in the salaries of the workers as well as in the next budget”.

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He added that “we are even looking at inflation coming down by the close of the year and that is why we made the increment now.”

He urged all employers to adhere to the increment of the minimum wage when it takes effect.

“Any employer who fails to adhere to the increment would be dealt with in accordance with the labour law.”

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