Organized Labor has declared that it will oppose the government’s proposal to implement a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) in place of raising salaries for public sector employees during salary negotiations the following year.
COLA is a benefit provided to government employees as a temporary fix, when immediate salary increases cannot be made.
According to Organized Labor, the COLA won’t have any positive effects on pension payments or other benefits, so they are rejected.
Joshua Ansah, the Deputy General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), stated to journalists in Accra that Organized Labor will demand a pay increase rather than just a COLA.
“I don’t think it will be wise for us to go for COLA because COLA does not affect our pensions, doesn’t affect our earnings. So we think that it is better for us to go straight and get what is due us. And remember that I made the point that if the government wants to go to the IMF we want to caution the government that their decisions and their conditions should not impact our minimum wage in this country and I think that we will stand by that,” he added.
