Vice Chairman of the Senior Staff Association, Universities of Ghana (UG Chapter), Philip Kweku Odei, has alleged that the Labour Union presented a 20 percent base pay proposal to government without consulting other workers’ unions.
He made the claim following a statement released on Thursday, November 6, 2025, by all workers’ unions, which expressed concern that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) may be deliberately engaging only selected unions it believes are more likely to compromise during the ongoing base pay negotiations.
The unions also described the government’s 6 percent offer as woefully inadequate, citing the rising cost of living and growing economic hardship faced by workers.
Speaking to Univers News, Mr. Odei criticised the practice of inviting some unions for negotiations through phone calls and text messages, calling it unprofessional and unfair.
“Labour presented a 20% base pay increment as their proposal, which was done without consultation with any of the unions, and we did not agree to that. We vehemently refused that figure. However, government presented their side — a 2.5% base pay increment — which we said was too insulting to us,” he said.
“We were hoping that since last year we went with the 60% proposal, this year we would have gone with at least 50% so that we can get something better. At least, if government is not able to meet 50%, maybe a 30% base pay increment will be sufficient for us,” he added.
He further accused some labour leaders of “conniving” with government to selectively invite unions to the negotiation table, a move he described as “very, very wrong.”
Mr. Odei urged the leadership of labour unions to consult all member unions before submitting proposals to government. He noted that at this stage of the negotiations, workers would not accept anything below a 15 percent increment.
“This whole debacle has occurred because there was not enough consultation on the ground. We as workers do not even understand how the 20% figure came about. So we are looking for more consultation,” he said.
“Fair Wages should understand that workers know what they want and the leaders of organised labour should also endeavour to come down to us to actually listen to our issues so that we will give them a proposal for them to go and negotiate with,” he insisted.
“However, I think we have gone far now, and we are saying that they have arrived at 15% for labour and 6% for government. We are saying that they should not go down any further from the 15%. We are hoping that at least if we don’t get anything at all, that 15% should come.”
Mr. Odei hinted that if their concerns are not addressed, the unions may embark on a demonstration on Thursday, November 14, 2025.
“Today, we are sending our letter to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters to notify the police of our plan to embark on the demonstration. Lawfully, we are supposed to notify the police five days ahead, so we are looking at the 13th of this month. Hopefully, we will stage our demonstration,” he noted.
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Story by Erica Odeenyin Odoom | univers.ug.edu.gh
