Ghanaian workers deserve at least 15% pay rise, not 9% – Dr Zaato

A Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Joshua Zaato Jebuntie, has argued that Ghanaian workers deserve at least a 15% pay rise, insisting that the 9% increase agreed by the government and Organised Labour for 2027 is inadequate amid rising living costs.

He said increases in utility tariffs, fuel prices, transport fares and agricultural production costs had placed additional financial pressure on households, particularly low-income earners and farmers.

Dr Zaato made the remarks on JoyNews’ AM Show on Thursday, October 29, a day after the government and Organised Labour reached a two-year public sector pay agreement covering 2027 and 2028.

“Look, I think that Ghanaians deserve at least 15%,” he said when asked what level of increase he considered appropriate.

He cited rising costs of fuel, transport, water and electricity, alongside higher prices of fertiliser, ploughing services and other farm inputs, as factors affecting household incomes and livelihoods.

“The people that suffer most are the ordinary poor, especially farmers whose prices have collapsed, whose cost of production of farming has escalated,” Dr. Zaato said.

The government and Organised Labour have agreed to a 9% increase in public sector workers’ total remuneration for 2027, followed by a 10% base pay increase for 2028.

The agreement, reached through the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee on Wednesday, October 28, will take effect from January 1, 2027, and run until December 31, 2028.

Under the arrangement, eight percentage points of the 2027 increase will go towards base pay, while the remaining one percentage point will be allocated to workers’ conditions of service.

For 2028, workers will receive a 10% increase in base pay, calculated on the applicable base pay as of December 31, 2027.

The 2027–2028 agreement also contains an income-protection provision under which the parties will reconvene to review the 2028 base pay if year-on-year inflation for December 2027 exceeds the agreed trigger linked to the government’s inflation projection.