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01.05.2019 General News

May Day: Upper East TUC Want Universal Pension Coverage

May Day: Upper East TUC Want Universal Pension Coverage
01.05.2019 LISTEN

The Upper East Regional chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for universal pension coverage for workers in both the public and private sector in the region.

According to the Bolgatanga Regional Secretary of TUC, Mr Augustine Adongo, over 11 million workers in the private sector risk being poor after retirement due to lack of access to Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

Speaking at this year’s May Day in Bolgatanga, Mr. Augustine Adongo asked the government to develop a road map for universal pension coverage in Ghana in the 2020 budget.

“We have decided to draw attention to the lack of access to pension, hence the theme ‘Sustainable Pension for All’ We are expecting concrete plans and road map for universal pension coverage in Ghana in the 2020 Budget and Economic policy statement, Currently there are about 200, 000 pensioner on the SSNIT Scheme, it may surprise you to know that about a quarter of these pensioners that is 50,000 are receiving just about 300 per month or 10 cedis per day, this woefully inadequate,” he said.

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Currently, Ghana's total working-age population is estimated at 13 million and just about 1.5 million represent 11.5% of the total working-age population have access to access to pension under the Social Security and National Insurance Trust.

As the world observes International Workers’ Day, organized labour in Ghana took to the streets to protest poor conditions of service.

The placards focused on inadequate pension benefits which is in line with the theme for this year’s May Day Celebration, “Sustainable Pensions for All: The Role of Social Partners”

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A protester who spoke to Citi News during the march said: “The negotiation that we started in 2018 is finalized after this May Day because workers can no longer contain the salaries that are being paid. The highest paid worker of Ghana Railway Company is GHC 2,300 and this is horrible.

“You can imagine what the ordinary workers are receiving as pensions. We cannot continue to receive these salaries so we are calling on management to review these salaries.”

—citinewsroom

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