By Lamin Cham
Garba Cham, the secretary general of the Gambia National Trade Union Congress has said that Gambian workers must get a pay rise to get them from their current starvation wages.
Speaking to The Standard less than a week before the next Workers’ Day celebrations, Mr Cham said though the new government has improved the take-home income of the workers by increasing transport allowances, the fundamental issue remains that salaries are stagnant and not commensurable with the living costs prevailing in the country.
He further stated that the government needs to realize that whether or not the vehicle policy, “which seeks to ground official cars and compensate officials with bigger transport allowance, does not affect the vast majority of ordinary workers who, yes are grateful to the transport allowance rise, but will be far better of with an actual pay rise.”
According to Mr Cham, this issue among others will be among the resolutions the Union will present to the government next Tuesday May 1.
He revealed that the May Day celebration will start tomorrow from the Stadium and this will be followed on Saturday by the commemoration of the World Occupational Health and Safety Day which he said his union will mark too.
On Tuesday May 1, Mr Cham went on, there will be prodemocracy march past from the junction of The Standard Newspaper, the former daily Observer in Baku, to the Stadium where resolutions would be presented to government officials.
“I would like to call on the PMO to organize civil servant associate themselves with Union in all these events,” Mr Cham concluded.
