Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton has been tasked with presenting Cabinet with a holistic paper on the views of stakeholders on the implementation of the new national minimum wage, according to President Irfaan Ali.
Responding to a question on Friday about the delay in the implementation the proposed $60,000 minimum wage for the private sector, Ali said the minister has been consulting on the issue and is yet to table a full paper for discussion at Cabinet.
“He has not brought before cabinet the full paper to be discussed. You know the private sector had views on this issue. We asked the minister to have wide consultation to bring together the views of everyone then present a holistic paper. The minister still has that responsibility to bring a holistic paper,” Ali said at State House.
Earlier this year, the Labour Minis-try announced that based on a discussion of the minimum wage by the National Tripartite Committee, it was “unanimously agreed that it be moved to $60,000 GYD.” With the trade unions and private sector both giving their blessings, the matter was taken to Cabinet for deliberations.
In responding to calls from unions to have the new minimum wage to be signed into law, Hamilton last month told Stabroek News that the proposal has been receiving “active consideration” from Cabinet.
More recently, sections of civil society and the trade union movement have hosted peaceful protests outside of the Ministry of Labour on Brickdam to press government to approve the sum.
Trade Unionist Eugene Noel said it is important for this new minimum wage to be legislated to prevent the abuse of workers’ rights and working conditions. He noted that having the rate legislated only increases workers’ rights.
Noel stated that workers in the Caribbean are currently paid more than Guyanese, despite the wealth of resources available here.
He added that these persons are paying taxes and by right should be given an explanation on what has been causing the delay in the implementation of the new minimum wage.
In a recent statement, civil society group, Article 13, called for an interim hike of the figure to $75,000 per month.
In the statement, the group noted that the current National Minimum Wage of $255 per hour, $2,040 per day, $10,200 per week or $44,200 per month was set in 2016 and became effective from January 1, 2017. Prior to that date the National Private Sector Minimum Wage of the equivalent of $202 per day was fixed in 2013 and took effect from July 1, 2013.
Even as a stand-alone number, Article 13 said that the national private sector minimum confines those affected groups to a life of poverty for them and their children which cannot be remedied by any number of hampers or cash grants. By its failure to address the problem of the minimum wage, the government is effectively subsidising the employers who are relieved of their responsibility to pay their employees a just wage, the statement said.
Trade unions at last month’s Labour Day observances renewed calls on the government to move ahead with the implementation of the increase.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) at its rally on May Day voiced its disappointment at the delay in the implementation of the new minimum wage order.
FITUG’s Treasurer and President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union Seepaul Narine said that with the recent hike in prices, the labour movement is cognisant that even the proposed new minimum wage might need upward adjustment.
“It is our considered view that it is very difficult for any worker to survive on the current minimum wage. At this time, the current minimum wage when adjusted for inflation is worth less than $39,000 monthly and, therefore, the proposed $60,000 may require further reconsideration for higher adjustment,” he said before pointing out that food prices have increased by 11.7% in the last year.
It has been more than two years since government, labour and the private sector have been discussing the minimum wage.
“Comrades, we are disappointed that Labour Day 2022 has arrived and the National Minimum Wage remains $44,200 monthly. We had anticipated that by this time that the new minimum wage of $60,000 per month, which enjoys the support of the social partners, would have been implemented”, Narine said.
FITUG’s President Carvil Duncan, in his address, also shared his dissatisfaction over the delay in the implementation of the new minimum wage.
He called on companies which have the ability to pay and sustain the payment to move forward and pay employees the new rate.
“I am pleading for those workers — some of them are members of a trade union that is part of the Federation — that something be done to make the $60,000 a reality, knowing that the real wages of these workers cannot sustain themselves and families,” Duncan said in his address.
