House approves $600-per-week minimum wage increase
NEW minimum wage rates were approved for lowly paid Jamaican workers in the House of Representatives on Tuesday after a noisy showdown between Government and Opposition members of Parliament (MPs) over the level of increases.
New Minister of Labour and Social Security Dr Fenton Ferguson apologised for the low increases, pointing out that employers who can pay more should do so.
“As a Government, we have taken into consideration the lived experiences of those at the lower level of the society, which explains why the proposed adjustment to the national minimum wage constitutes a 10.71 per cent increase, while the increase in the minimum wage for industrial security guards constitutes an increase of eight per cent from the previous rates established in January 2014,” Ferguson explained.
Noting that the proposed increases are to become effective on March 1, Ferguson announced that: the national minimum wage will be increased from $5,600.00 per 40-hour work week, or $140.00 per hour, to $6,200.00 per 40-hour work week, or $155.00 per hour.
The minimum wage for industrial security guards is to be increased from $8,198.00 per 40-hour work week, or $204.97 per hour, to $221.35 per hour or $8,854.00 per 40-hour work week.
The laundry allowance for industrial security guards to be increased from $37.30 per hour to $40.30 per hour; their firearm premium allowance to be increased from $41 per hour to $44.30 per hour; dog handlers premium allowance to be increased from $27.58 per hour to $29.80 per hour; and the insurance coverage payable on account of security guards killed or injured in the line of duty, to be increased from $2 million to $2.5 million.
But Opposition MPs felt that the government could have done much better, and asked for delay in the approval of the proposed rates.
Opposition spokesman on labour, Rudyard Spencer — a trade unionist — took exception to the level of increases being offered.
“I would like the minister to look again at these numbers, because these numbers are not really anything worth talking about,” Spencer said.
“These are not numbers in the real sense,” Opposition MP Delroy Chuck chuckled.
Opposition spokesman on social security, Pearnel Charles, said that the Government would never have accepted the increase as a minimum wage when he was the minister of labour and social security (2007-2011).
Charles noted that he had been requested then to establish a committee to set a minimum standard as a living wage for the lowest paid workers. He noted that a preliminary report was done and the current Administration was expected to carry through the process but failed to do so.
Charles said he could not support the level of increase offered to the workers, considering the high cost of living.
“I will not support this proposal to give them an increase of only $100 per day. I am not supporting that. It is a disgrace,” Charles said.
The Opposition proposed that the Government continue the process he had started, by appointing a committee to look at a liveable minimum wage for workers to replace the national minimum wage.
The Opposition threatened to vote against the motion for approval of the new rates, but eventually backed off after leader of Opposition Business Derrick Smith advised against it.
— Balford Henry