The Minority Caucus on Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions in Parliament has criticised the newly signed public sector remuneration agreement, describing the 9% total salary increase for 2027 as an ‘insult” to public sector workers.
A statement issued on October 30 by Mavis Nkansah Boadu, Ranking Member, Committee on Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions said the caucus received the details of the Multi-Year Public Service Remuneration Agreement for 2027 and 2028 with shock and dismay.
Under the agreement, public sector workers will receive a 9% total remuneration increase in 2027, comprising an 8% increase in base pay and a 1% adjustment in conditions of service.
The increase will rise to 10% in 2028.
However, the Minority argued that the adjustments were inadequate, considering the rising cost of living and recent utility tariff increases imposed by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in 2025 and 2026.
It described the proposed increases as a “direct assault on the dignity of public sector workers”.
“To offer Ghanaian public sector workers a meager 9% total remuneration increase for 2027 (8% base pay and 1% conditions of service) and 10% for 2028 is nothing short of an insult. This miserly adjustment is a direct assault on the dignity of workers, especially when juxtaposed with the compounding burden of utility tariff increases imposed on citizens across 2025 and 2026,”
The Minority accused the government of imposing sub-inflationary wage increases on workers while households continued to bear the burden of rising utility costs.
The Minority has since made the following demands from government.
a) Immediate Review of the Remuneration Framework: An immediate reconvening of the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC) to establish a living wage that accounts for real compounding utility and commodity price inflation.
b) Holistic Cost-of-Living Protection: Wage negotiations can no longer be conducted in a vacuum while utility regulators greenlight constant tariff increases that wipe out nominal pay adjustments.
c) True Respect for Organised Labour: We urge the government to cease using institutional transitions (such as the IPEC switch) as leverage to impose poverty wages on Ghanaian workers.
d) Accountability to the Rank and File: The leadership of Organised Labour must publish the proposals it tabled and explain to its members the basis on which it accepted a two-year deal opening at a mere 9%.
The caucus has therefore rejected the 9% increase in salaries for public sector workers, insisting that the “Ghanaian worker deserves dignity, economic justice, and a fair share of national prosperity.”
“The Minority Caucus stands in absolute solidarity with the rank and file of Organised Labour and the suffering workers of Ghana. We reject this insulting 9% pay deal in the face of relentless electricity tariff hikes,” the statement concluded.
