TUC BARES TEETH OVER FUEL HIKES

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday February 22, 2013.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has served notice to government, as a matter of urgency, to increase the salaries of workers to commensurate with the recent increment of petroleum products.

“In view of the hardships imposed on workers and their families as a result of the petroleum price increases, we are by this statement serving notice that our demands for pay increases in 2013 in both the public and private sectors will be informed by the high cost of living government has imposed on workers with the increases in petroleum prices.”

A news release issued in Accra and signed by TUC General-Secretary Kofi Asamoah said “we have already written to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to, as a matter of urgency, reconvene the National Tripartite Committee meeting to determine a new national daily
minimum wage for 2013.”

The TUC said the negotiation of the Base Pay and Relativity on the Single Spine Salary Structure “will commence immediately after the national daily minimum wage for 2013 has been determined.”

They said that the recent increases in the emoluments for the President, his ministers, members of parliament and all office holders under Article 71 “will also serve as a good guide for pay negotiations in 2013 adding “What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander!”

The TUC said that in December 2011, similar increases were announced by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) which generated a national debate on petroleum pricing adding “but the government refused to undertake the necessary reviews in the whole of 2012, for obvious political reasons.”

“In the week prior to the announcement of the recent increases in petroleum prices, we witnessed an orchestrated discussion of petroleum pricing in Ghana with the aim of sensitizing the public,” the union noted.

“Public officials did everything they could in the electronic and print media to draw attention to the subsidies that, according to them, has become ‘unsustainable’…Suddenly, fuel subsidy became an emergency issue that needed to be dealt with urgently to save the economy from eminent collapse. Public officials cited the Single Spine Pay Policy as the main reason why government cannot continue to subsidize petroleum products,” it said.

Propaganda

The TUC placed on record that contrary to what the government and its functionaries would have Ghanaians to believe, “Organised Labour was never consulted on the current petroleum price increases.”

“As the public is already aware, leaders of Organised Labour paid a courtesy call on the President on Friday, 15 February, 2013. At this meeting, the President informed the labour leaders of government's intention to increase fuel prices, among other important national issues. We do not consider this to be consultations.”

 Kofi Asamoah - TUC General-Secretary

“We have assured government of our readiness to dialogue over issues of national importance. But we take a very serious view of a situation where government gives the impression that it has consulted Organised Labour when, in fact, no such consultation has taken place. Consultations on such important national issues must be genuine.”

“We recall that, prior to the meeting with the President an invitation from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to the TUC to discuss the matter of petroleum pricing was canceled by the Ministry the very morning the meeting was supposed to take place,” TUC said.

Fuel Subsidy

The TUC affirmed its unflinching support for the subsidization of petroleum products saying “The conditions that necessitated the introduction of subsidies are still valid.”

“We wish to re-state that fuel subsidy is one of the means by which workers and their families can be cushioned from the harsh economic realities facing millions of households in the country.”

“We have, in the past, drawn attention to the regressive nature of petroleum taxes and called on government to consider removing taxes on petroleum products. We believe that petroleum taxes have higher negative impacts on the poor than on the non-poor. We challenge government to show otherwise.”

Corruption

The TUC also expressed grave concern about the lack of transparency and corruption in the petroleum industry saying “There are too many players in the petroleum industry profiting at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians.”

“The Petroleum Products Price Build-Up contains as many as six (6) different margins designed to benefit a few owners of marketing companies and other players in the industry.”

The union said that they have every reason to suspect that the lack of transparency in the petroleum industry “is deliberately designed to facilitate corrupt practices of the few people in society who are well connected.”

Tema Oil Refinery

They vowed to fight any attempt to denigrate the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) which they said the inability of the facility to function effectively “is a manifestation of the corruption that has engulfed the petroleum industry.”

“Why should Ghana stop domestic refinery and import refined products now that we are producing oil in the country?” they asked and predicted “We are certainly on the road to repeating the mistakes of other countries on the continent.”

The TUC said that they will ‘vehemently’ resist any attempt to privatize TOR because “such a move will not be in the interest of the majority of Ghanaians.”

Public Sector Pay

They also noted that as part of the official propaganda, petroleum subsidy has been linked to public sector pay, accusing government officials of busily “touting various figures as representing the proportion of total revenue that goes into public sector pay.”

“The impression is being created that public sector pay is a windfall for undeserving public sector workers and that the country derives no service or value from public service workers.”

“We strongly condemn the attempt by public officials to blame public sector workers for policy failures. We were all witnesses to the changes in government spending particularly in the months leading up to the 2012 general elections.”

“The notion that public sector pay is consuming about two-thirds of national revenues and has become an albatross on the neck of government has been pushed to levels where the TUC can no longer keep mute over it.”

“The TUC believes that about half of the over GH¢9 billion that is said to be spent on public sector pay is actually being spent on the emoluments including arrears and pecks of political office holders.”

“We are challenging government to disclose the amount spent on public service workers and the share going to political office holders. Public service workers deserve recognition by government and not blame and insults from government officials.”