The Trades Union Congress (TUC) says over 10 million Ghanaians will not have access to pension when they attain the retirement age of 60 years.
According to the union, eight years after the introduction of three-tier pension scheme, which was introduced in 2010 to improve pension coverage, especially for informal economy workers, workers have not seen any credible government policy or measures towards achieving this objective.
It appealed to government to initiate some policies in the 2019 Budget toward improving coverage of pension among informal economy workers.
It said, the unification of pensions deserves more attention in order to eliminate unfairness in pension/retirement benefits.
The union urged government to initiate reforms in the first-tier Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) scheme to ensure efficiency in the management of the fund.
TUC is also demanding the publication of results of all investigations into the affairs of SSNIT without further delay.
It charged the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to pay attention to its supervisory duties to ensure that the second-tier schemes are properly managed because in 2020 a large majority of retirees would rely on the second-tier schemes for their lump-sum benefits.
The workers union blamed the worsening cost of living on low earnings in both the public and private sectors emphasizing that earnings in the public sector have deteriorated in real terms as wage increases have continued to lag behind inflation rates.
“Similarly, the minimum wage has been fixed at approximately $2 a day in the last ten years.
“We cannot sustain growth with declining real purchasing power. One of the ways to address this challenge is to eliminate the distortions and inequities in pay across public sector institutions which the Single Spine Pay Policy has failed to address.
“Additionally, we expect bold measures to adequately protect all vulnerable workers by enforcing the national daily minimum wage,” it added.
