The Ghana National Tripartite Committee has unanimously agreed and pegged the new National Daily Minimum Wage at Ghc7, based on a base pay rate of 16.7 percent
The committee comprises government as employee, organised labour and The Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA).
In effect no employee in Ghana should be paid less than Ghc7 (US$2) per day
However, in an official response, the GEA said many of its members “will struggle to pay the new minimum wage.
Speaking in a radio interview the GEA Chief Executive Officer Alex Frempong said that most businesses in the country are not in good financial position to pay the new minimum wage.
“Some organizations or businesses apply to the Labour department to pay something other than the minimum wage because the businesses are not able to support the minimum wage.”
He explained that “realistically some businesses are not doing well and setting the minimum wage at Ghc7 will create some difficulties for them.”
Mr Frempong therefore asked the government to address the challenges of small businesses in order for the new minimum wage to be effective.
“I think it is something we need to do, we must have an open dialogue on how small businesses can be able to absorb economic shocks in the country, so that they can operate effectively and be in the position to pay wages that will really support.employees in this sector.”
The Chief Executive Officer revealed that the minimum wage will only affect individuals or enterprises that are paying below the stated amount.
“The communiqué is only talking about businesses who are paying below the national daily minimum wage. All other enterprises that employ workers will use their own internal mechanism to review the terms and conditions of service; to review wages.”