The National Tripartite Committee has set up a technical committee to look into modalities to determine the 2021 National Minimum Wage.
The team has two weeks to submit its report to the Tripartite Committee for further discussions and conclusion on the minimum wage.
Discussions on the minimum wage could not take place in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to journalists after the first meeting in Accra on Thursday, April 22, 2021, Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, said negotiations will begin after the report is submitted.
“The process is that we have to put in place a technical committee which will consider all happenings within the economy; things like the inflation rate and the growth of the economy, and submit the report to us,” he explained.
The Minister further noted that “their report is usually not taken as a final product. It is also negotiated”.
The Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, also expressed hope that there would be no lags in the process.
“As soon as he [the Minister] receives the report, he has assured us that he is going to reconvene the National Tripartite Committee meeting, then the processes of negotiation [can] start.”
“It is a very complex process, and we hope they will do a good job,” Dr. Baah added.
The 2020 National Daily Minimum Wage was last adjusted in 2020.
It went up by 11 percentage points from the 2019 minimum wage of GHS10.65 to GHS11.82.
The annual adjustments are in line with the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) section 113 (1) (a) and the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
The Labour Act currently proposes the establishment of the National Tripartite Committee, which advises the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations on other developments on the market.
It is made up of the sector minister, five representatives of the employers and organisations as well as five other representatives from organized labour.
Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com