The Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Yaw Baah, has called for the suspension of taxes on fuel until prices are stabilised.
He said the high prices of fuel, with negative effect on food and commodity prices, was impacting workers’ wages badly and affecting the standard of living.
“We, therefore, call on Government to suspend all taxes and all levies on petrol and diesel and LPG concurrently until the international price of crude oil and the value of the Cedi has stabilised. This will bring down prices of fuel products and ease the burden on Ghanaians.”
He appealed to President Akufo-Addo on Sunday at the May Day parade held at the Black Star Square in Accra to intervene and improve the ordinary Ghanaian worker’s purchasing power.
Dr Baah called on Government to, as a matter of urgency, review the single spine pay policy and pay workers living wage.
“As we speak, minimum wage earners in Ghana are currently receiving 13 cedis 53 pesewas for a whole day’s work or 365 cedis for a whole month’s work. This is below the 1.9-dollar international poverty line at the current exchange rate…salaries have lost over a third of their real value as prices of essential commodities, including food and fuel continue to increase on daily basis.’’
He lamented over the “poor structuring” of the salary of Public Sector employees, which he said also affected pensions particularly, those not captured under the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).