General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Mr. Solomon Kotei, has urged employees to support their employers amid the pandemic.

According to him, it has become necessary due to the economic impact of the pandemic on jobs in the country.

Speaking in an interview ahead of the May Day celebration, Mr. Kotei revealed that, the current state of the Ghanaian employee isn’t the best. That notwithstanding, he expressed his optimism over the country’s rebounding.

“It’s in the midst of real difficulty… [with] no proper salary reviews because we suffered something in 2019. In 2021, the indicators are that we are going through very severe hardships. We think government of the day will also be giving account as to how they have things to go the manner that it has gone.

“At the moment, we as the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union we will want to say that government should help us to identify why up until now seven months running we have not been able to establish the minimum wage, because the tripartite is meeting but the two social partners are all pointing fingers at government that government says I’m bringing a [paper] and it has not been able to do so”.

Commit diligently to your work

Commenting on the impact of the pandemic, Mr. Kotei urged employees to work diligently in spite of its devastating effect.

“We have done a bit well to let our members appreciate that we came on the verge where we came close to losing our jobs; especially when the lockdown came and suddenly all our hotels and restaurants had to shut down with over five thousand workers being affected.

“Then again, we noticed loss of wages [and] we noticed percentage cuts in salaries. Hence, if you watch carefully, we are urging all employees to join hands with the employers to make sure that whatever necessary sacrifice we have to undertake to bring our businesses back and to sustain what is available, unconditionally, we give ourselves up to it.

“We cannot get to a point where [we] demand without balancing ourselves with what is feasible and this is where we commend the Ghanaian worker for showing appreciation to the kind of sacrifice that all the stakeholders need to get our jobs done. In the midst of erratic power supply, employers have had to take some major job decisions and [it] affects increase in salaries here and there”.

Increment of salaries

Meanwhile, the National Association of Graduate Teachers has urged government to help ameliorate the economic hardships among workers, particularly teachers.

The President of the association, Angel Carbonu, revealed that, the increased cost of living has necessitated demand for salary increments.

According to him, an increment between “15 to 20 percent” will be great for workers. Additionally, he averred that, prices of food and other commodites have shot up, prompting an increase in salaries.

He noted further that “the banks that we work with [have written] to us as an organisation amending the interest rates that we have agreed with them.”