Ghana TUC headquarters
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19th October, 2010
TUC Makes Input Into 2011 Budget
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has made an input into the government’s Budget Statement and Economic Policies for 2011, calling for employment creation, effective management of the oil revenue, streamlining of the country’s international trade policy and improved public sector wages and salaries.
In a 10-page document titled “It is time to create decent jobs for Ghanaians,” presented to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, the TUC said it was important for the government to provide direct employment to the youth in priority areas such as health, education, security, housing, sanitation, water supply and transport infrastructure.
According to the TUC, it was wrong for the government to have the notion that the public sector was over-bloated and stressed on the need for government not to measure the size of the public sector by its wage bill.
Rather, the TUC said the size of the public sector should be measured by the adequacy or otherwise of essential services to the people of Ghana.
It said there was every indication that Ghana needs more teachers, health workers, policemen and women and more houses, adding that it is only when one puts on the spectacles of the International Monetary Fund which is overly concerned with monetary targets even at the expense of social development that one can conclude that the public sector is over-sized and called on the government to “reduce the emphasis on inflation-targeting and to move boldly towards a more comprehensive employment-targeting.”
“We expect the 2011 budget to have clear and measurable targets for employment creation, region by region and district by district,” it said and added that “Ghanaians will judge the government by the jobs it creates.”
On the management of the expected oil resources, the TUC said it was sad that the legal and institutional framework for the management of the resource still remain unclear when the country was left with only a few weeks to go into the commercial production of the commodity.
The TUC urged the government to see the emerging oil industry as a unique opportunity to improve on the country’s economy and social infrastructure.
On wages and salaries, the TUC noted that the benefits of salary enhancement in the public sector would outweigh the cost and expressed the hope that all public service workers will see substantial improvements in their salaries.
On international trade and economic partnership agreement, the TUC opined that the country’s current trade policy was inimical to enterprise development and job creation and called on the government to address it.
It said the policy subjects the country’s local enterprises to excessive and unfair foreign competition which has resulted in the manufacturing sector recording negative growth rates.
The TUC said the trade policy of Ghana needs to be reviewed “in line with our employment policy objectives.”
In a 10-page document titled “It is time to create decent jobs for Ghanaians,” presented to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, the TUC said it was important for the government to provide direct employment to the youth in priority areas such as health, education, security, housing, sanitation, water supply and transport infrastructure.
According to the TUC, it was wrong for the government to have the notion that the public sector was over-bloated and stressed on the need for government not to measure the size of the public sector by its wage bill.
Rather, the TUC said the size of the public sector should be measured by the adequacy or otherwise of essential services to the people of Ghana.
It said there was every indication that Ghana needs more teachers, health workers, policemen and women and more houses, adding that it is only when one puts on the spectacles of the International Monetary Fund which is overly concerned with monetary targets even at the expense of social development that one can conclude that the public sector is over-sized and called on the government to “reduce the emphasis on inflation-targeting and to move boldly towards a more comprehensive employment-targeting.”
“We expect the 2011 budget to have clear and measurable targets for employment creation, region by region and district by district,” it said and added that “Ghanaians will judge the government by the jobs it creates.”
On the management of the expected oil resources, the TUC said it was sad that the legal and institutional framework for the management of the resource still remain unclear when the country was left with only a few weeks to go into the commercial production of the commodity.
The TUC urged the government to see the emerging oil industry as a unique opportunity to improve on the country’s economy and social infrastructure.
On wages and salaries, the TUC noted that the benefits of salary enhancement in the public sector would outweigh the cost and expressed the hope that all public service workers will see substantial improvements in their salaries.
On international trade and economic partnership agreement, the TUC opined that the country’s current trade policy was inimical to enterprise development and job creation and called on the government to address it.
It said the policy subjects the country’s local enterprises to excessive and unfair foreign competition which has resulted in the manufacturing sector recording negative growth rates.
The TUC said the trade policy of Ghana needs to be reviewed “in line with our employment policy objectives.”
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