New minimum wage to take effect July 1

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President yesterday announced that the new national minimum wage of $35,000 monthly will take effect from July 1, the Government Information Agency said.

GINA said that in January this year, Government established a ministerial team to work to fine-tune the procedures that would facilitate the establishment of a national minimum wage.  It said this effort was led by Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda Gopaul.   GINA said that the new wages agreed to are as follows: monthly wages paid to workers-$35,000, weekly-$8,000, and hourly- $200.

For workers who are not covered under this new structure, such as those who work on a part-time basis, other statutes such as the annual increases and orders that deal with categories of unskilled and semi-skilled workers, will apply to them.