The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has issued an emphatic ultimatum to the government, demanding the immediate suspension of the recently announced utility tariff increases.
The Congress condemned the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC)’s decision as unjust and profoundly insensitive to the plight of Ghanaian workers, warning that organized labour will mobilize strong resistance unless the government returns to the negotiating table to review upward the 2026 wage adjustments.
Speaking at a news conference in Accra, Secretary-General of the TUC, Joshua Ansah, expressed outrage over the PURC’s announcement of a 9.8 percent increase for electricity and a 15.9 percent hike for water tariffs.
“In a spirit of fairness and mutual respect for our social partnership, we demand that the government suspends the announced tariff increases. Government and the PURC should, as a matter of priority, immediately engage as agreed to exhaust the consultative process”
Joshua Ansah, Secretary-General of the TUC
The TUC’s condemnation stems from the punitive timing of the hikes, which are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, the very day the government’s recently agreed-upon 9 percent base pay increase is also set to commence.
The TUC described the tariff adjustment as the “government’s unacceptable New Year’s gift,” to Ghanaians.
The labour union argued forcefully that the increases have instantly and completely invalidated the meager gains made by the wage adjustment, proving the government’s insensitivity to the daily struggles faced by workers amid the prevailing high cost of living.
Mr. Ansah drew a stark comparison, asserting that the government’s action amounted to a deep betrayal.
He noted that in 2025, workers received a 10 percent wage increase, which was immediately countered by cumulative electricity tariff hikes exceeding 18 percent. This recurring pattern, the TUC maintained, demonstrates a policy of taking back with utility price increases, whatever minimal pay gains are negotiated.
“What the Government has done is worse than robbing ‘Peter to pay Paul,’ In plain language Government has robbed the poor Ghanaian worker of the 9% wage increase it had agreed to implement on January 1, 2026”
Joshua Ansah, Secretary-General of the TUC
Suspension and Renegotiation
The TUC’s primary demand is the immediate suspension of the announced tariff increases. The labour movement insisted that the government and the PURC have failed to exhaust the necessary consultative process and must, as a matter of priority, immediately engage organized labour at the negotiating table.
Mr. Ansah strongly questioned the government’s logic in its sequencing of policies, highlighting the financial hardship this places on workers who will face higher utility bills from the beginning of January 2026, while only receiving their meager 9 percent pay adjustment at the end of the month. “This obviously borders on insensitivity,” he argued.
The TUC further urged the government to review upward the recently announced 9 percent base pay increase, deeming it woefully inadequate even before the utility hikes were factored in. The union believes that the only way to restore fairness is through a comprehensive review of the entire compensation package.
The group also issued a categorical warning, confirming that it is prepared to move beyond negotiations and mobilize its rank and file to resist the implementation of the tariffs if its demands are ignored.
“The TUC will resist – these insensitive increases in utility prices,” the General Secretary firmly warned, reiterating that the union will not accept any tariff increase that will continue to erode the meager wage adjustments unless the government commits to offsetting these new costs.
The decision by the PURC, which has been described as an “obnoxious tariff increase,” has thus set the stage for a potential high-level confrontation between organized labour and the government in the first quarter of 2026.
The TUC has now placed the onus squarely on the government to demonstrate fairness and mutual respect for the social partnership by halting the hikes and returning to the negotiating table before the January deadline.
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