The National President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Rev. Isaac Owusu, has urged the government to prioritise the protection of the salaries and pensions of Ghanaian workers during the current economic crisis. According to Rev. Owusu, workers cannot be shortchanged in their salaries and pensions, regardless of the economic climate. He emphasised the importance of protecting workers’ salaries to ensure they can provide for their families and maintain basic needs such as food.
“The workers’ salary needs to be protected.”
“The meagre amount is deducted by the government as our pension needs to be protected. The workers’ pension as we are speaking now, Ghana Public Sector workers, is the lowest in Africa. You cannot touch it. That is why the theme is very timely and it is right and we believe that today,” said Rev. Owusu.
He expressed confidence that the Executive General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will convey the message of organised labour to the government, stressing the importance of protecting workers’ salaries and pensions.
“The Executive General for the TUC who will speak on behalf of organised labour will tell the government and the leadership of this country that whatever they have to do to protect the workers’ salary as well as the workers’ pension, they cannot fail,” he added.
Rev. Owusu also highlighted GNAT’s commitment to improving the conditions of service for their members to enable them to work effectively.
“We are working in the interest of our members in terms of their conditions of service, things that will enable them to work effectively at their workplace,” he said.
The call by GNAT’s National President for the government to protect workers’ salaries and pensions echoes the concerns of many workers and labour unions across Ghana during this economic crisis.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gerard Awombadek Asagi|Ghana
