A coalition of nine educational and government university staff unions in Ghana has outrightly rejected the government position to offer to pay a 6% base wage raise for public sector workers in the 2026 budget year.
The unions are crying wolf and requesting a higher pay raise, with some claiming that 6% is lacklustre given the present economic circumstances and expectations of a larger increase based on earlier government assurances when the economy was more prone to collapse. They have announced a nationwide demonstration on November 13, 2025, to urge their demands for an equitable conclusion to the base negotiations regarding salaries.
The base pay agreement, organised and directed by the government of the day, was concluded with workers' leadership strongly represented and resulted in a 6% increase. The membership of all workers in their respective unions is outraged and crying wolf about an alleged marginal increase in base pay next year. Negotiations for the 2026 basic salary rise are still ongoing, as of November 8, 2025.
Workers, particularly those in the teaching profession, are apparently planning a mammoth demonstration on November 13th, with strikes as an extra option, to express their inseparable discontent with the final value of the basic wage increase. Any day, any time, I will always stand steadfast in my conviction that we are the ones solely responsible for our own leadership choices. They say that life is full of choices and that the decisions one takes are binding.
Professor Ransford Gyampo, CEO of Ghana Shippers Authority, stated in an interview with Alfred Ocansey, host of the TV3 Saturday political show 'The Key Points', that teachers should be careful who they choose to represent them at the negotiating table. You workers chose your leaders, and there is no reason for grumbling. Not at all!
My compliments go out to the fraternity, but the truth is that it's what you bring to the table, and they can't do what they cannot afford to do. This is what these groups of leaders, who are members of their respective unions, have committed to do in order to best serve their members' interests. Workers are now turning around, not blaming their thumbs, but directly criticising the newly formed administration of the NDC government.
According to an old maxim, a fool's sharpened knife will cut his or her flesh. Exactly what is being exuded. Next, given the golden opportunity, rationality will be deployed in our decisions to lead members well to promote their collective interests in terms of income increases and better working conditions. You can't put an ass in a competitive lane and expect it to race just like a horse.
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