It asked the government to pay workers living wage – a minimum income that makes it necessary for workers to meet their basic needs and not minimum wage.

The party said paying living wage would make workers earn enough income for a satisfactory standard of living.

In a statement issued by Remy Paa Kow Edmundson, the National Secretary of the PPP, it said the Ghanaian worker deserved living wage and not minimum wage in order to improve on their living conditions.

The call was in commemoration of the 2022 May Day celebration, otherwise known as Labour Day which is commemorated annually to celebrate achievements of the Ghanaian workforce.

The National Tripartite Committee increased the daily minimum wage to GH¢12.53 for 2021, and GH¢13.53 for 2022 and prior to this, the daily minimum wage was GH¢11.82.

According to the PPP, “the government should also prevent persistent agitation on the labour front, endeavour to give the workforce adequate compensation and address inequalities in pay structure of all workers.

“We asked the government to use the event to focus on addressing issues of unemployment and deal with difficulties confronting the worker to have workforce ready to sacrifice for the development of the nation, we know providing the worker what they deserve will help government to have cooperation from labour to prosecute agenda of the state.

“The objective of the occasion has not changed, rather the government has turned blind eye to the needs of workers and has not served their interests, after several years of celebrating the occasion, unemployment rate is still high, with the Ghanaian worker yet to receive and benefit from significance of the event.

“This situation is hurting the country in several ways, including low productivity, nepotism, clienteles, political patronage, corruption, indiscipline, societal impunity within the labour force, low progress, growth, development of the country’s economy,  institute measures to address issues affecting workers to enhance productivity and contribute to national cohesion, harmony and development,” the statement said.

It said the establishment of Labour Day was commonly associated with commemoration of achievements of labour movement and used to call for measures to ensure rights of workers were enforced, ensure poor conditions of service faced by workers such as low salaries and wages, long hours of work, pension, housing, insurance, and unemployment were addressed.