Make realistic demands of gov’t – Bokpin tells labour unions
Economist and Finance lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has advised organized labour unions in the country to make realistic demands of government with respect to salary and allowance increments.
According to Mr Bokpin, demand by organized labour unions for government to increase base salaries by 19.4% to reflect the current inflation rate might be too much for the government to take on.
“You (labour unions) also have to look at what the economy can afford; whether the government has the fiscal space to be able to load on all of that…that will be very helpful rather than just saying that let’s strictly use the inflation, let’s say 19 points so per cent and all of that,” he said speaking in an interview on Newsfile monitored by norvanreports.
He noted that realistic considerations by organized labour unions should be made to ensure the state is able to meet demands of organised labour because the economic outlook beyond this year is likely to decelerate.
He was however, quick to add that, government must as a matter of urgency engage labour unions over their salary and allowance concerns.
Further asserting that, although government does not have the enough fiscal space to address these concerns by the labour unions, there could be some adjustments that the government would want to do by engaging with labour.
Adding that, in government’s engagement with labour unions, discussions must lead to full disclosure of roadmaps and interventions being implemented by the State to alleviate the plight of public and private workers.
Speaking further on the issue, the economist noted that the blame of poor remuneration and economic challenges on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and Covid-19 is not the true reflection of issues asserting that, “if you look carefully, you see that though external factors are pushing some of these things, the bulk of that is also a reflection of domestic policy failure.”
“What makes it a bit difficult for government right now is because of how they pressed the fiscal accelerator in the Covid times.
“The Covid spending took the deficit to a high level because we were just coming from one crisis or the other – from energy crisis, financial sector crisis, and then we walked straight into the pandemic,” he stated.
Mr Bokpin’s assertion is in view of the ongoing strike action by organized labour unions and the demand by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for government to adjust workers’ basic salary to meet the rising levels of inflation, something they say is making it difficult for them to meet their basic needs.
